All Blacks head coach Ian Foster backs New Zealand to turn tables on Pumas | Argentina's Michael Cheika rejects favourites tag
Sky Sports will again be bringing you live coverage of the Rugby Championship this weekend with New Zealand taking on Argentina (8.05am on Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports Main Event); Australia face South Africa (10.30am, SS Arena) in Round 4 of matches on Saturday, September 3
Last Updated: 01/09/22 10:24am
New Zealand coach Ian Foster has kept his starting XV unchanged for Saturday's Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Hamilton, live on Sky Sports, backing the same players to turn the tables on the Pumas after the Christchurch upset.
Only the bench has been shaken up, with fly-half Beauden Barrett and lock Brodie Retallick returning from injury, and hooker Codie Taylor axed after lineout struggles late in the 25-18 upset by the Pumas last week.
Foster's pick-and-stick policy confounded some fans and pundits, who had called for captain and flanker Sam Cane to be dropped among other changes after the team slumped to its sixth loss in eight tests.
But the embattled coach said the problem lay in the way the All Blacks finished in Christchurch, not in how they started.
"For those that want blood, I guess we haven't given it, have we?" he told media this week.
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"But...we've been pretty ruthless and hard on ourselves behind the scenes. We're hurting with where the team's at.
"But if you play under fear then you restrict your options, you restrict your thinking...and what actually happens is you just don't get the game going the way you want to do it."
Having suffered their first ever defeat to Argentina on home soil last week, the defending champion All Blacks are third in the Rugby Championship table behind the leading Pumas and Australia.
Defeat in Hamilton would imperil their title defence and heap further pressure on Foster and staff despite strong endorsement from New Zealand Rugby after a review last month.
Barrett, who missed Christchurch with a neck injury, replaces Stephen Perofeta on the bench, while Retallick replaces Tupou Vaa'i after recovering from a broken cheekbone from the series-deciding loss to Ireland in July.
The abrasive Dane Coles comes in for Taylor, while recalled loose forward Dalton Papali'i edges Akira Ioane out of the side.
Foster said he needed better from his team in the last quarter after their disappointing fade-out in Christchurch.
However, he was confident enough in his selections to release eight players from the squad, some of whom will head back to provincial rugby.
"I think there's enough evidence that we're getting there in many parts of our game but it's just (about) growing that confidence when we get into the tail-end of the game," he added.
"It's an area that great All Black teams have always been good in that last 15 minutes, of backing themselves and doing the right thing."
New Zealand: 15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 David Havili, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Richie Mo'unga, 9 Aaron Smith; 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Sam Whitelock, 5 Scott Barrett, 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Sam Cane (c), 8 Ardie Savea.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Dalton Papali'i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Quinn Tupaea.
Argentina's Cheika laughs off 'favourites' tag
Argentina coach Michael Cheika has laughed off suggestions that his in-form Pumas will be favourites when they take on the All Blacks in Hamilton this weekend.
The Pumas top the Rugby Championship standings after handing Australia a record defeat in San Juan three weeks ago and beating the All Blacks for the first time on New Zealand soil in Christchurch last weekend.
Cheika, though, reacted with incredulity when a reporter at his team-naming news conference suggested Argentina might be favoured to beat the three-times world champions on Saturday.
"Mate, we're in New Zealand, like, playing against New Zealand," he said.
"I know you guys like to manoeuvre the story around but we're about as underdog as you get. The guys that need to believe we can do it is us.
"We've got no expectations on ourselves except for the quality of our play. As in life, good things happen when you work hard and you're good at your craft."
Cheika largely kept faith with the side that achieved a historic breakthrough against the All Blacks last week, making two changes in the backs and two in the forwards.
In the backline, Lucio Cinti drops to the bench, with Santiago Cordero coming on to the left wing, while Tomas Cubelli replaces Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum-half.
Santiago Grondona will start at blindside flanker in place of Juan Martin Gonzalez, and Guido Petti joins Tomas Lavanini in the starting second row, with Matias Alemanno named among the replacements.
"There were different reasons for all of them, some relating to the competition that we're having inside of the team and we're trying to reward training performance as well," Cheika added.
"And also just some things about how we want the team to set up this week with different combinations. It's been a good week in training and it's getting harder to pick the team every week."
With New Zealand now having lost their last three tests on home soil, Cheika said the Pumas can expect a fierce backlash from their wounded hosts at Waikato Stadium. "We know it'll be difficult," he said. "But when the challenge is really big or the situation in the game is really tough, we try and thrive in those moments."
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Tomas Cubelli; 1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 6 Santiago Grondona, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Lucio Cinti