A Pumas change
Argentina have announced a vastly changed lineup for their clash with Romania on 22 October at Aussie Stadium, coach Marcelo Loffreda making six modifications to his starting lineup and also naming his third captain in as many games.
Ever tuning his first XV for both the rigours of a Rugby World Cup calendar and also the particulars of his opposition, Loffreda has opted for a side that can best handle the physically tough and unpredictable Romanians, with flanker Santiago Phelan to lead the Pumas, squad captain Agustín Pichot sitting on the bench for the match.
“We have two games in 96 hours, if we had five, six, seven days from game to game we could do other selections, but in this case we must use our resources as best we can,” Loffreda said.
“Romania played a very physical and tough game against Australia, when somebody plays that type of game you're not sure how they are going to react because maybe they'll try to take revenge [for their defeat to Australia].
“I think that will be the reaction of the Romania team, they will try to play us as the last game they can take [win], so it will be very, very difficult for us.”
Corleto looks forward
Star full back Ignacio Corleto will sit on the bench for the match but, like Loffreda, believes the forward contest will tell the tale of the match.
“The important things is not their ability with the ball, but in with their forwards,” Corleto, who scored Argentina's opening try of RWC 2003 against Australia, told rugbyworldcup.com.
“If you play with a lot of phases their defence struggles and becomes disorganised. Australia did that and it caused miles of problems.”
The last encounter
Last time the two teams met was in August 1998, and the intermission has witnessed a marked change in style for both nations with players for both sides competing professionally, mainly in France.
Ten Pumas in Wednesday’s line up that were also in the side that beat Romania 68-22 that day - Jose Orengo, Pichot, Gonzalo Quesada, Nicolás Fernández Miranda, Phelan, Rolando Martin, Pablo Bouza, Pedro Sporleder, Omar Hasan and Federico Mendez.
Diego Albanese, who also played that day but will be rested for this RWC match, believes the two sides though similar in content are different in form.
“In that time both teams were not professional. In our team, 95% played in Argentina [were not professional] now only a handful do,” Albanese said.
“A lot of players play for money now, including the Romanians who play in various professional European teams.
“With such time passing since the turn of professionalism I don’t know which team will be better because the only thing I know about Romania is that a lot of the team plays in France.”
The opinion of the rival
One of the players who stood out in the last encounter for Romania was fly half Ionut Tofan, who alongside his captain and centre Romeo Gontineac will face the Pumas.
Tofan remembers the last match to be a tale of two halves, the first competitive and hard fought, the second injury fraught which allowed the Pumas to eventually run away with the game.
“Argentina did have a competitive team but they have changed a lot since. They are now elite. In the case of Romania we have also grown, but at a slower rate,” he said.
All the action of the Aussie Stadium clash can be caught at live at rugbyworldcup.com from 20.30.