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Los Pumas boosted by returning Top 14 stars for All Blacks bout
By Ned Lester
Felipe Contepomi has named his team for round one of the Rugby Championship, when his Pumas will host New Zealand in Cordoba.
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Game one of the 2024 edition of the tournament saw Argentina claim a powerful win over the Kiwis in Wellington, and both teams have named starting XVs with eight personnel changes from that encounter.
Los Pumas will welcome back Santiago Chocobares, Bautista Delguy, Marcos Kremer and Juan Cruz Mallia after the quartet were rested in the July window, having each played big minutes in their respective Top 14 campaigns.
Pedro Delgado gets his second start in a Pumas jersey at tighthead prop, packing down alongside captain Julian Montoya and Mayco Vivas. Western Force-bound Franco Molina joins Pedro Rubiolo in the second row, while the powerful back row of Pablo Matera, Marcos Kremer and Joaquín Oviedo completes the forward pack.
Inexperienced but in-form halves duo Gonzalo García and Tomás Albornoz will act as game-drivers, with the blockbusting midfield partnership of Santiago Chocobares and Lucio Cinti to feed. There’s plenty of X-factor out wide, with Bautista Delguy, Rodrigo Isgró and Juan Cruz Mallía rounding out the starting XV.
An experienced bench unit boasts 317 Test caps, bettering their opponents’ bench experience by 37 Tests.
Los Pumas team to play the All Blacks
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1. VIVAS, Mayco (31 caps)
2. MONTOYA, Julián (C) (108 caps)
3. DELGADO, Pedro (4 caps)
4. MOLINA, Franco (12 caps)
5. RUBIOLO, Pedro (23 caps)
6. MATERA, Pablo (VC) (112 caps)
7. KREMER, Marcos (73 caps)
8. OVIEDO, Joaquín (13 caps)
9. GARCÍA, Gonzalo (11 caps)
10. ALBORNOZ, Tomás (17 caps)
11. DELGUY, Bautista (33 caps)
12. CHOCOBARES, Santiago (27 caps)
13. CINTI, Lucio (34 caps)
14. ISGRÓ, Rodrigo (9 caps)
15. MALLÍA, Juan Cruz (VC) (42 caps)
Relacements
16. RUIZ, Ignacio (18 caps)
17. TETAZ CHAPARRO, Nahuel (79 caps)
18. SCLAVI, Joel (27 caps)
19. PETTI, Guido (89 caps)
20. GONZÁLEZ, Juan Martín (42 caps)
21. BENÍTEZ CRUZ, Simón (3 caps)
22. CARRERAS, Santiago (55 caps)
23. PICCARDO, Justo (4 caps)
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