2024 Argentina vs Australia

Rugby Championship Argentina Vs. Australia Preview: Can Wallabies Rebound?

Rugby Championship Argentina Vs. Australia Preview: Can Wallabies Rebound?

A Wallabies squad trying to find a spark with plenty of new faces will be going to Argentina to face a pumped-up Pumas side wanting to make more history.

Aug 30, 2024 by Briar Napier
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One side is in rebuilding mode, the other is hitting its stride and pulling off some of the best results in its history.

We’re talking about the national rugby teams of Australia and Argentina, and if you haven’t been up to speed with the rugby universe over the past couple of years, you may accidentally assume one nation is in a different spot than it actually might be.

In the past three years alone, Los Pumas have beaten the All Blacks on New Zealand soil twice and made the semifinals of a Rugby World Cup, firmly establishing them as a strong Southern Hemisphere squad that can give the elites a go.

Meanwhile, the historically great Wallabies are coming off of a nightmare Rugby World Cup and haven’t won The Rugby Championship in close to a decade, which is a less than ideal scenario when a home Rugby World Cup starts in three years.

When Argentina and Australia meet in their first of two Rugby Championship tussles in 2024 on Saturday in La Plata, it’ll be two big-name rugby nations going in opposite directions.

Their fates for the future, however, may be influenced heavily by what they each do over the next few weeks of play.

Here’s a look ahead at what to know and expect ahead of Argentina and Australia’s clash in The Rugby Championship this weekend:

Australia

In 2024, the Wallabies have given more players their first senior caps in any year since 1962 — and we’re not even out of August yet.

That factoid encapsulates the situation with the Australian national team at the moment.

Following a disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign last year under Eddie Jones, in which the two-time former world champions failed to make it out of the pool stage for the first time, the firebrand Jones left and returned for a second stint coaching Japan, as former Ireland boss Joe Schmidt was brought on to try and steer the Wallabies’ ship in the right direction.

Australia has slipped twice over the past two years to a low of 10th place in the World Rugby Rankings, its lowest position of the rankings era, and a Wallabies rejuvenation is sorely needed with the 2027 Rugby World Cup coming to the Land Down Under. 

That’s a big reason why so many uncapped players have gotten a shot with the Wallabies this summer under Schmidt; Australian rugby badly needs a spark with the whole world watching, and players with something to prove may bring it.

However, it’s likely that if a Wallabies revival happens, it’s going to come gradually. Their first two Rugby Championship results of 2024 further drove that point home.

Australia was well off the pace of reigning world champion South Africa in a pair of tests in Brisbane and Perth, being less than five minutes from being shutout at the Suncorp Stadium in Round 1, before failing to score a try at the Optus Stadium in Round 2. And while the Springboks unquestionably are the class of the rugby world at the moment, the Wallabies have lost four in a row to a team they have 40 wins all-time against.

A dangerous Argentina side playing at home this weekend will be attempting to make sure that Australia’s misery continues, but Schmidt will bring a squad with a mix of veterans and fresh faces to try and get a victory in La Plata.

Western Force’s Hamish Stewart is set to become the 15th Wallabies debutant of the year, as Schmidt has selected him to start at inside center, where he fills in for the injured Hunter Paisami. His former teammate with the Queensland Reds, No. 8 Harry Wilson, is tabbed to be the captain of the Wallabies for the first time as he picks up his third start of this year’s Rugby Championship.

Wilson will be the leader in a familiar back row that also features veteran Rob Valetini (44 caps) and emergent option Carlo Tizzano (two caps) for the third straight match, with Schmidt and his staff opting for four other changes in the starting XV.

Nick Frost will additionally get his second start of this year’s Rugby Championship (and first since the Brisbane test) in the second row with Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, while a reworked front row sees hooker Josh Nasser drop to bench in favour of Matt Faessler and former captain Allan Alaalatoa replaced with Tonga-born prop Taniela Tupou at tighthead, with him having missed South Africa tests due to the death of his father.

Jake Gordon also returns at scrum-half to fill in for Nic White, while the back three of Marika Koroibete, Andrew Kellaway and Tom Wright is unchanged from the Wallabies’ last time out. 

Argentina

Last year (in a shortened competition due to the Rugby World Cup taking place), Argentina decided it was done holding The Rugby Championship’s wooden spoon.

But with a proper six-round event taking place in 2024, can Los Pumas do the same and avoid last place in a four-team, six-match Rugby Championship for the first time? 

Saturday’s result in La Plata against the Wallabies should go a long way toward deciding how that all shakes out.

Argentina should be over the moon with how its first two Rugby Championship matches turned out, having won just their second game ever against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil in Round 1 in Wellington before falling to them in Round 2 at Eden Park — a ground that no one on Earth has beaten the All Blacks at in 30 years, anyway. 

It’s a similar situation to 2022 when Los Pumas had wins over both Australia and New Zealand across their first three Rugby Championship matches, though three straight defeats from then on saw Argentina slip back into its all-too-familiar, last-place position in the table. But with both matches in this year’s competition against the Wallabies coming on Argentinian soil, however, Los Pumas will be eager to snag all the points they can get against their struggling foes in front of home support.

First-year coach Felipe Contepomi, already the dressing room leader behind one of Argentina’s finest results in its rugby history, has opted to go with a squad very similar to the one that both took down the All Blacks in Round 1 and put up the most points on New Zealand (38) in a home test match in six years.

Skipper Julian Montoya, who was unavailable for the first All Blacks match due to a rib injury, will start at hooker in between Thomas Gallo and Joel Sclavi in the front row. Sclavi, who plays his club rugby at French power La Rochelle, will get his first Rugby Championship start of the year at tighthead after coming off of the bench in both tests in New Zealand.

Marcos Kremer moves back into the third row at outside flanker after being moved into the second row for the Eden Park test, with Franco Molina and Pedro Rubiolo (who occupied the lock spots in Wellington) returning as a pair into the second row. Los Pumas’ only other change in the XV from their last time out is Santiago Cordero replacing Matias Moroni on the right wing, while a 6-2 forwards split on the bench rounds out the team. 

One of those forwards available off of the bench is none other than all-time caps leader Agustin Creevy, who at 39 years old scored the go-ahead try to put Argentina in front of the All Blacks with less than 15 minutes remaining in Round 1. The Los Pumas legend will be suiting up for his final international test match in his hometown of La Plata this weekend.

Squads

Argentina: 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya (C), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Franco Molina, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Pablo Matera (VC), 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Juan Cruz Mallia

Bench: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Santiago Grondona, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Tomas Albornoz

Australia: 1 Angus Bell, 2 Matt Faessler, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 8 Harry Wilson (C), 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Noah Lolesio, 11 Marika Koroibete, 12 Hamish Stewart, 13 Len Ikitau, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 15 Tom Wright

Bench: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Isaac Kailea, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen

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