Los Pumas ring changes

Argentina have made five changes for their match against the Wallabies in Mendoza on Saturday.

Coach Daniel Hourcade will have to do without two of his senior statesman as both Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and Juan Manuel Leguizamón will miss the final match of the tournament. Lobbe has flown back to France to be with his wife and newborn child, while Leguizamón has failed to recover from the calf strain that kept him out of the loss to New Zealand.

Benjamín Macome will shift into the No 7 jersey for Saturday's match, while Rodrigo Báez replaces Lobbe in an altered loose trio. In the front row, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro comes in at tighthead prop, while lock Tomás Lavanini returns after serving a one-week ban for a dangerous charge against the All Blacks.

Among the backs, Martín Landajo gets a start at scrumhalf after featuring off the bench against the All Blacks, and Horacio Agulla replaces Marcelo Bosch at outside centre, with the latter dropping to the bench.

The match in Mendoza provides the Pumas with a final chance to break their three-year Rugby Championship drought, against an Australian side fighting travel fatigue and injury problems.

Argentina – 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Juan Imhoff, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Lucas González Amorosino, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Benjamín Macome, 6 Rodrigo Báez, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Subs: 16 Matías Cortese, 17 Bruno Postiglioni, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Jerónimo De la Fuente.

Photo: Andrew Cornaga/BackpagePix