Head coach Michael Cheika said the much-changed Argentina outfit to face Chile in the World Cup on Saturday can prove a point to him.
Cheika has made 11 changes from the Pumas victory over Samoa for this weekend’s South American derby in Nantes.
Cheika has handed starts to the experienced five of hooker Agustin Creevy, No 8 Facundo Isa, scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli, flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez and winger Juan Imhoff.
They are all aged 30 or older with centre Jeronimo de la Fuente, who turned 32 in February, captaining the team.
Cheika’s Pumas need to beat Los Condores, the lowest ranked side in the tournament, to keep their hopes of a place in the quarter-finals alive.
“This team deserves to play in the World Cup, they have the chance to show what they can do,” Cheika told reporters.
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“It’s a good team to play a very important World Cup match,” he added.
Creevy becomes just the second Argentina player to reach 18 World Cup matches, after former Pumas head coach and hooker Mario Ledesma.
Sanchez makes his 100th Test appearance, with Creevy the only other person to do so for the team.
Argentina finish their group campaign against Japan on 8 October. Chile are making their first appearance at a World Cup, but have conceded 156 points in their opening three Pool D games.
Argentina – 15 Martin Bogado, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (c), 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Joel Sclavi.
Subs: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Joaquin Oviedo, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia.
Chile – 15 Inaki Ayarza, 14 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 12 Matias Garafulic, 11 Juan Ignacio Larenas, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 8 Raimundo Martinez, 7 Clemente Saavedra, 6 Martin Sigren (c), 5 Javier Eissmann, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 3 Matias Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Javier Carrasco.
Subs: 16 Tomas Dussaillant, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza,9 1Augusto Sarmiento, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Ignacio Silva, 22 Nicolas Herreros, 23 Francisco Urroz.
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