Thursday, 8 September 2011

Phelan Names Puma England Side

Argentina coach Santiago Phelan says he has named his strongest line-up for their World Cup opener against England.

Phelan makes one change from the side that lost 28-13 to Wales in August with outside centre Gonzalo Tiesi recalled in place of Marcelo Bosch.

"We think for this game and at this moment it is the best team we have," said Phelan ahead of the Pool B clash.

Prop Juan Figallo, 23, retains his place in the front row with the experienced Martin Scelzo on the bench.

"We know he is a young player but he is developing very well," added Phelan.

"He had a very good year at [club side] Montpellier and we think he is the best option for the right prop and also he can play left so Figallo is a very good option.

"We have Scelzo on the bench and that's also a right prop in good condition."

The Pumas side includes Exeter wing Gonzalo Camacho and Leicester flyer Horacio Agulla, with London Irish scrum-half Alfredo Lalanne on the bench, but there is no place for Leicester prop Marcos Ayerza.

Fly-half Felipe Contepomi captains the side in his fourth World Cup along with 38-year-old hooker Mario Ledesma.

Despite being top seeds in Pool B, England are strong favourites for the game in Dunedin after Argentina's disrupted World Cup preparation.

A lack of matches and the loss of talismanic fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez with a knee injury, means emulating their surprise third-place finish four years ago will be difficult.

If England overcome Argentina on Saturday and emerge as group winners, France and Australia may again provide the knock-out barriers in their path to a possible record third successive final.

Contepomi said: "We've only played one Test match in the last 11 months, so naturally we're looking forward to growing up as a team throughout the tournament.

"Our expectation is to come and play our best and if we can be competitive on Saturday, that will be great and start the tournament as best we can."

Argentina: Martin Rodriguez, Gonzalo Camacho, Gonzalo Tiesi, Santiago Fernandez, Horacio Agulla, Felipe Contepomi (captain), Nicolas Vergallo, Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma, Juan Figallo, Manuel Carizza, Patricio Albacete, Julio Farias Cabello, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Juan Fernandez Lobbe.

Replacements: Agustin Creevy, Martin Scelzo, Mariano Galarza, Alejandro Campos, Alfredo Lalanne, Marcelo Bosch, Juan Jose Imhoff.