Argentina will be without Julián Montoya for Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Italy in Genoa.
Coach Felipe Contepomi has made five changes to his starting XV following last weekend’s 42-12 defeat to Ireland in Dublin, with injuries forcing several alterations.
Veteran loose forward Pablo Matera takes over the captaincy from Montoya, who suffered a head injury against Ireland.
Bautista Bernasconi replaces Montoya at hooker, while Joaquín Moro and Juan Martín Scelzo come into the loose trio.
Moro replaces the injured Marcos Kremer, who has a sprained right ankle, while Scelzo takes over from Juan Martín González, who drops to the bench.
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There are also changes in the backline, where Simón Benítez Cruz replaces Gonzalo García at scrumhalf and partners flyhalf Tomás Albornoz.
An injury to Juan Cruz Mallía has forced Contepomi to reshuffle his back three, with Bautista Delguy moving to fullback and Rodrigo Isgró coming in on the wing.
Contepomi has also recalled hooker Facundo Bosch and loose forward Facundo Isa, who are both named among the replacements.
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Argentina have won just one of their four Nations Championship matches, against Wales, but will be confident of beating an Italy side that lost 66-7 to the Springboks in Turin.
ARGENTINA – 15 Bautista Delguy, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Justo Piccardo, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Juan Martín Scelzo, 7 Joaquín Moro, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Moreno, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Boris Wenger.
Bench: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Ephraim Elias, 20 Juan Martín González, 21 Facundo Isa, 22 Gonzalo García, 23 Gerónimo Prisciantelli.
Photo: Marcos Brindicci/Getty Images
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Argentina will be without Julián Montoya for Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Italy in Genoa.
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