Date: Saturday, November 9
Venue: Stadio Friuli, Udine
Kick-off: 18.40 (17.40 GMT; 14.40 Argentina time)
Expected weather: Sun through high clouds. Very little chance of precipitation. High of 17°C and a low of 5°C
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
A Latin flame will burn bright when Italy welcome Argentina to Stadio Friuli in Udine on Saturday evening.
Italy are taking their Autumn Nations Series show on the road, playing matches at Serie A venues, although this will be the second time they have played at the home of Udinese (following a Test match against the Springboks in 2009.
If Italy have picked up some notable results in recent times, then Argentina have done just that too – and the some. The Pumas beat all three Rugby Championship opponents this year – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – for the first time ever, meaning they head to Europe thinking they can take on anybody. Not only that, but they’ve won each of their last eight Test matches against Italy.
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Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada will be leading a team against his home country (whom he represented on 38 occasions, scoring 486 points) for the first time, and will be desperate to get one over the man now in charge of Argentina, Felipe Contepomi. Both men vied with each other for the Pumas 10 jersey for a time, adding extra motivation to the proceedings.
Italy’s last two victories against the Pumas both came away from home, but the Azzurri haven’t beaten Argentina on Italian soil so far this century. It’s been a tale of defeat since those wins in 1978 and 1998, with losses in the last nine fixtures.
Italy and Argentina in numbers
Italy have won three of their last four home games (L1), as many as they’d won in their previous 17 such fixtures. Overall, theyy have lost just one of their last six Test matches (W4 D1), with their last two victories both coming by 20+ points.
Argentina finished third in The Rugby Championship this year, avoiding finishing last for the second year in a row, after managing that just twice overall in their previous 11 campaigns (2015, 2020). The Pumas have gained an average of 515 metres per game in 2024, the highest such rate of any men’s Tier 1 side this year. Meanwhile, Italy have conceded the most metres per match of any team this year (483).
Italy (15.6) and Argentina (14.3) have made the most dominant tackles per game of any men’s Tier 1 Test sides in 2024, with Italy also completing the most tackles per match of any team this year (178).
With a back row spearheaded by captain Michele Lamaro, Italy have won more turnovers per game than any other men’s Tier 1 side in 2024 (6.9), while only Japan (15.6) have conceded more turnovers per game than Argentina (15.4) among such teams this year. Lamaro made 103 tackles during the 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, at least 24 more than any other player and the most by any player in any edition of the Championship, surpassing Jonny Gray’s tally of 100 in 2018. When Italy faced Japan in July, the Benetton man made 22 tackles.
At their best, the Pumas have a creative and hard-to-contain attack. Argentina’s Juan Cruz Mallia made nine offloads in The Rugby Championship this year, more than any other player, while teammate Mateo Carreras ranked second for both metres gained (316) and defenders beaten (17, alongside three others), and made the most turnover-winning tackles of any back in the competition (3).
Both sides are on an upward trajectory, but a loss on Saturday would stall that – for a short time, at least.
Teams
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-relo, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Mirco Spagnolo.
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Marco Zanon./
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Bautista Delguy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 19 Matias Alemmano, 20 Bautista Pedemonte, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero.
