Los Pumas, the Argentine Rugby National Team, is going for the feat: they will play against the powerful All Blacks, away at the Oregantheory Stadium in Christchurch, this Saturday from 4.45 am, for the third date of the Rugby Championship. Here is everything you need to know.
How Los Pumas and the All Blacks are coming to their Rugby Championship duel
Los Pumas started the Rugby Championship with a defeat and a historic win (48-17) against the Australian Wallabies, both at home. The last great performance of the team feeds the illusion against the All Blacks who, before beating South Africa (35-23) last week in Johannesburg, were on an unusual negative streak of three defeats in a row.
In their dream victory over the Wallabies, Los Pumas scored a promising 7 tries, which strengthened the collective spirit for a new feat, this time against New Zealand, who are not in their best moment and are unheard of in fourth place in the World Rugby ranking.
“We are facing a situation where we need to make history and we will try to repeat the performance against Australia”, said the head coach of the Argentine team, Michael Cheika. Coach Ian Foster, who has been confirmed in his post until the France 2023 World Cup, named the same starting fifteen that achieved a great away victory against South Africa and was surprised by the Argentine level last week. “I am very impressed by the performance of Los Pumas against Australia, it was an outstanding performance”, he said in an interview with the local press.
The confirmed line-up of Los Pumas against the All Blacks
Juan Cruz Mallia; Emiliano Boffelli, Matias Moroni, Matias Orlando and Lucio Cinti; Santiago Carreras and Gonzalo Bertranou; Pablo Matera, Marcos Kremer and Juan Martin Gonzalez; Tomas Lavanini and Matias Alemanno; Joel Sclavi, Julian Montoya (captain) and Thomas Gallo. Coach: Michael Cheika.
The formation of the All Blacks to receive Los Pumas
Jordie Barrett; Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, David Havili and Caleb Clarke; Richie Mo’unga; Aaron Smith and Ardie Savea; Sam Cane (captain) and Shannon Frizell; Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock; Tyrel Lomax, Samisoni Taukei’aho and Ethan de Groot: Coach: Ian Foster.
The Pumas, for another feat against the All Blacks
The Pumas beat the All Blacks only once: on November 14, 2020, on the third day of the Three Nations tournament, in a match that ended 25-15, with all the points scored by the Tucumán opener Nicolás Sánchez.
The history between Los Pumas and the All Blacks
The All Blacks won 31 matches
The Pumas have only one win
They drew only 1 match
Last year, the All Blacks won both Rugby Championship matches: first 39-0 and then 36-13.
The All Blacks vs Los Pumas facts: time, TV, and more
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia).
Assistants: Nic Berry (Australia) and Damon Murphy (Australia).
Stadium: Orangetheory Stadium (Christchurch).
Kickoff: 4:45 a.m. in Argentina.
TV: ESPN and Star+.
When will Los Pumas and the All Blacks meet again?
After Saturday’s match, they will meet again on September 3 in Hamilton. In the last two dates of the tournament, Argentina will face South Africa, on the 17th at Velez Sarsfield Stadium and on the 24th in the city of Durban.
