The USA will face Argentina on Wednesday, October 09 at Rugby Stadium, Kumagaya. The match will be the final RWC 2019 match for the Pumas, while the Eagles play Tonga on Sunday in a short turnaround. Kick-Off is at 13:45 local (12:45 ET) In the U.S, the match may be viewed on
NBC Sports Network or on demand on NBC Sports Gold and on TSN 1 and 4 in Canada.
France held off a comeback by Tonga for a 23-21 Pool C win at Kumamoto Stadium, Kumamoto City on Sunday, 6 October to qualify for the Cup Quarterfinals and is in second place in Pool C with a 3-0 record and 13 points. England tops the standings with 15 points. Argentina is in third place with a 1-2 record and 6 points.
While a win by Argentina will qualify the team for the RWC 2023, the USA could claim third place with wins over Argentina and Tonga. An Argentina non-bonus point loss to the USA and a Tonga bonus-point win over the USA would have Argentina claiming third place based on their head to head win over Tonga.
The USA opened the RWC 2019 with a 45-7 loss to England and a 33-9 loss to France. Argentina began with a 23-21 loss to France, a 28-12 win over Tonga, and a 39-10 loss to England.
USA
Gary Gold makes three changes to his starting XV with scrum-half Ruben de Haas making his first RWC start for the USA after being a replacement against England and France.
The two other changes include Greg Peterson at lock and Paul Lasike at center. Nick Civetta and Shaun Davies are not part of the matchday 23, while Martin Iosefo is a reserve.
Fly-half AJ MacGinty moved into second place on the all-time USA points scoring list in the Eagles’ loss to France. His 287 points is second behind Mike Hercu with 486 with Matt Alexander falling to third with 286 points.
Captain Blaine Scully will captain the Eagles for the 31st time, passing Dan Lyle into third place, but remaining behind Todd Clever (55) and Hercus (56) as the captain.
Bryce Campbell, who is making his second start of the tournament, is the only USA player to have scored a try at RWC 2019 with an 80th-minute score against England.
Cam Dolan will earn his 50th cap as a starter.
Argentina still has something to play for other than rankings. With a win, they will lock up third place in the pool and qualify for RWC 2023. The USA is seeking their first win at the Rugby World Cup since a 13-6 victory over Russia in 2011. The Eagles only other RWC wins were against Japan in 1987 and 2003.
Argentina
Head Coach Mario Ledesma has made nine changes in the starting XV, with Nicolás Sánchez at flyhalf and Juan Manuel Leguizamon, who will make his first start in RWC 2019 and play in his fourth World Cup, is at flanker.
Otherwise, the Pumas lineup is young, as the team already was eliminated from advancing to the Cup quarterfinals.
Among those included are 22-year-old wing Bautista Delguy, prop Santiago Medrano and full-back Juan Cruz Mallia, both 23.Matais Alemanno comes in as lock after Tomas Lavanini red carded against England, resulting in a 4 match suspension.
Squads
USA: 1 Eric Fry, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Nate Brakeley, 5 Greg Peterson, 6 Tony Lamborn, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Marcel Brache, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Mike Te’o 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Ben Landry, 20 Ben Pinkelman, 21 Nate Augspurger, 22 Will Hooley, 23 Martin Iosefo
Argentina: 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Matías Alemanno, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Santiago Carreras, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Bautista Delguy, 15 Joaquín Tuculet 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Benjamín Urdapilleta, 23 Matías Moroni
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistants: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) & Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
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