Argentina pick rookie Test full-back and hand debut to tight-head vs Boks

Geronimo Prisciantelli will make his first Test start at full-back, while tight-head Francisco Moreno wins his senior Pumas cap for Argentina’s match against South Africa in Buenos Aires this Saturday.

While all three of Prisciantelli’s previous starts have come at fly-half, with his other cap being off the bench, the 26-year-old is well-versed in playing with a 15 on his back for his club Racing 92.

Instead, Santiago Carreras will pull the strings at 10 for the first time in a Pumas’ jersey for almost a year – since the 67-20 defeat to the Springboks in September 2025.

As with his club Bath, Carreras has been mainly deployed as a full-back of late but, even so, this will still be the 37th time out of 54 that he has started a Test at fly-half.

And he was the man at 10 when Argentina pulled off one of their most-famous victories in recent times – the 38-30 win over New Zealand in Wellington in 2024.

Tomás Albornoz’s four-match ban for misconduct has necessitated the switch and Carreras forms an all-PREM half-back pairing with Newcastle scrum-half, Simón Benítez Cruz.

In midfield, the twice-capped Faustino Sánchez Valarolo has the experience of Lucio Cinti outside him at 13, while the back three is completed with wings Ignacio Mendy and Rodrigo Isgró joining Prisciantelli.

Fixture

Internationals

Argentina

12:00

8 Aug 26

South Africa

All Stats and Data

With regular captain and hooker Julian Montoya and No.8 Joaquin Oviedo missing because of club commitments, the Pumas’ pack has been shorn of two its most influential performers.

Ignacio Ruiz fills the vacancy at hooker left by Montoya, with props Boris Wenger and the uncapped Francisco Moreno either side of him.

Vice-captain Guido Petti and Tomás Lavanini bring nearly 200 caps worth of experience to the boiler room, while the Pumas will be led by Pablo Matera from blindside.

Benjamin Grondona plays openside, while Joaquín Moro will be looking to translate his PREM form with Leicester into the Test arena to ensure the Pumas don’t miss Oviedo too much.

Oviedo’s brother, hooker Leonel Oviedo, is one of three uncapped players on the bench, the others being Juan Penoucos and Juan Martín Scelzo.

Argentina team vs South Africa:

15 Gerónimo Prisciantelli
14 Rodrigo Isgró
13 Lucio Cinti
12 Faustino Sánchez Valarolo
11 Ignacio Mendy
10 Santiago Carreras
9 Simón Benítez Cruz

1 Boris Wenger
2 Ignacio Ruiz
3 Francisco Moreno
4 Guido Petti
5 Tomás Lavanini
6 Pablo Matera (c)
7 Benjamin Grondona
8 Joaquín Moro

Replacements:

16 Leonel Oviedo
17 Mayco Vivas
18 Tomás Rapetti
19 Ephraim Elijah
20 Juan Penoucos
21 Juan Martín Scelzo
22 Agustín Moyano
23 Matías Moroni