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Sept 11 (Reuters) – Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has kept
faith with the forward pack that made life difficult for New
Zealand last week and made just two changes to his backline for
their Rugby Championship clash against Australia on Saturday.
Martin Landajo has replaced Nicolas Vergallo at scrumhalf,
while Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino takes the place of Martin
Rodriguez at fullback.
Both Vergallo and Rodriguez were dropped to the replacements
bench for the clash at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast.
It was little surprise Phelan retained the forward pack who
held the All Blacks in check for more than 65 minutes in
Wellington last Saturday before the world champions snatched a
21-5 win courtesy of two late tries.
The Wallabies have struggled in the forward exchanges during
the Rugby Championship, which the Pumas are likely to exploit
with their traditional scrummaging power combined with a
ruthless defence around the fringes and at the breakdown.
Their backline defence should also present a problem for the
misfiring Wallabies’ backs, who have failed to score a try in
their three matches in the Rugby Championship and appear to be
struggling for rhythm and creative inspiration.
The Pumas backs were praised by the All Blacks after the
Wellington match, with their drift system quickly shutting down
the space they appeared to leave wide, while they barely missed
a one-on-one tackle.
Phelan resorted to a traditional 4-3 split on his bench for
the game against the Wallabies after choosing five forwards and
two backs last week.
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