Cheika blends debutants with old heads - Argentina name team to play Chile
Argentina head coach Michael Cheika's 23-man squad to face Chile in Pool D in Nantes on Saturday contains a mix of experience and those making their Rugby World Cup debuts, with Rodrigo Isgro and Martín Bogado (pictured) in the starting XV and Ignacio Ruiz and Joaquín Oviedo in line to make their Rugby World Cup bows off the bench.
1 Joel Sclavi
2 Agustín Creevy
3 Eduardo Bello
4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal
5 Pedro Rubiolo
6 Juan Martin Gonzalez
7 Marcos Kremer
8 Facundo Isa
9 Tomas Cubelli
10 Nicolas Sanchez
11 Juan Imhoff
12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (c)
13 Lucio Cinti
14 Rodrigo Isgro
15 Martín Bogado
Replacements:
16 Ignacio Ruiz
17 Mayco Vivas
18 Francisco Gómez Kodela
19 Matias Alemanno
20 Joaquín Oviedo
21 Lautaro Bazan Velez
22 Santiago Carreras
23 Juan Cruz Mallia
- Head coach Michael Cheika has made 11 changes to his starting XV from the team that defeated Samoa 19-10 in their last match, with Marcos Kremer, Guido Petti, Eduardo Bello and Juan Martin González the only four players retaining their places in the run-on team.
- Marcos Kremer and Juan Martin González will become the only two Los Pumas players to start in all three games at RWC 2023. Kremer has played every minute of their campaign so far.
- While four players could make their RWC debut, Cheika has named three of Argentina’s five most capped players of all-time in his starting XV in Agustín Creevy, Nicolás Sánchez and Tomás Cubelli.
- Six players in the starting XV are aged 30 or older – Agustín Creevy, Facundo Isa, Tomás Cubelli, Nicolás Sánchez, Juan Imhoff and captain Jerónimo de la Fuente.
- Agustín Creevy will equal Mario Ledesma Arocena as Argentina’s most capped Rugby World Cup player in his 18th match. At 38 years and 199 days, Creevy is the fourth oldest player to play a RWC game after Uruguay’s Diego Ormaechea (40 years, 26 days at RWC 1999), Namibia’s PJ van Lill (39 years, 297 days at RWC 2023), and Canada’s Spence McTavish (38 years, 278 days at RWC 1987).
- Nicolás Sánchez will earn his 100th cap, becoming only the second Argentine to play a century of tests. He is Argentina’s all-time leading point-scorer (872), and requires 16 more points to surpass Gonzalo Quesada as their all-time RWC leading point-scorer.