All you need to know about the All Blacks and Pumas game

NEW ZEALAND v ARGENTINA – EDEN PARK, AUCKLAND – KO 7.05pm (9.05am SAST)

Referee

Andrea Piardi (Italy)

Test debut: 17 March, 2018 – Switzerland 30-24 Poland

Tests as referee: 12

• Andrea Piardi will make his Rugby Championship debut with this fixture and in doing so become the first Italian to take charge of a match in the competition.

• This is the second ‘first’ for the 32-year-old in 2024, having made his Guinness Men’s Six Nations debut in the middle with Ireland’s win over Wales in Dublin.

• This will be the first time he referees either nation at test level, having been an assistant referee for Argentina’s 38-30 victory in Wellington last weekend.

• That was his first Test involving New Zealand, while he has been an assistant referee on three previous occasions for Argentina, including in their Rugby World Cup 2023 quarter-final defeat of Wales last October.

• Piardi will take charge of his third Test of the year, having also been in the middle for Georgia’s 25-23 victory over Japan last month.

Head-to-head

Played: 38* – New Zealand leads 34-3 with one draw

Points for: New Zealand 1,464 / Argentina 544 (Avg. score: 39-14)

Highest score: New Zealand 93 (93-8 on 21 June, 1997) / Argentina 38 (38-30 on 10 August, 2024

Biggest winning margin: New Zealand 85 (93-8 on 21 June, 1997) / Argentina 10 (25-15 on 14 November, 2020)

* Only Tests for both teams (first four matches were non-cap for New Zealand)

First met: 30 October, 1976 – New Zealand 21-9 Argentina – Buenos Aires, Argentina (non-cap for New Zealand)

Last met: 10 August, 2024 – Argentina 38-30 New Zealand – Sky Stadium, Wellington

Head-to-head notes

• New Zealand and Argentina have only met at Eden Park once before – the quarter-final of Rugby World Cup 2011.

• New Zealand won 33-10 but only made certain of victory in the final 11 minutes when they scored both of their tries, through Kieran Read and Brad Thorn.

• Julio Farias Cabello's try gave Los Pumas a shock lead but the All Blacks wrestled back control of the scoreboard thanks to Piri Weepu’s seven penalties.

• Los Pumas coach Felipe Contepomi started in that loss and converted Farias Cabello’s try, while Agustín Creevy came off the bench.

• Argentina will arrive in Auckland full of confidence after recording only their third victory over New Zealand in Wellington last weekend.

• Creevy’s 69th minute try gave Argentina the lead in Wellington and victory was then wrapped up by a last-minute penalty from Santiago Carreras that also denied New Zealand a losing bonus point.

• Lucio Cinti, Mateo Carreras and Franco Molina had scored Argentina’s other tries with Santiago Carreras finishing with an 18-point haul of four penalties and three conversions.

• Sam Darry scored his first try for the All Blacks to open the scoring in the 15th minute with Anton Lienert-Brown and Mark Tele’a also dotting down.

• Damian McKenzie kicked three penalties and three conversions in the defeat.

• The 38-30 victory saw Argentina score their most points in a single match against the All Blacks – surpassing the 25 points they had scored in their two previous victories (25-15 in November 2022 and 25-18 in August 2022).

• It was not quite their biggest winning margin as that stands at 10 points from Los Pumas’ historic first-ever win over the All Blacks in November 2020.

• Thirty-eight points is also the most that the All Blacks have conceded in a Test in New Zealand.

• Argentina will bid to win back-to back matches against New Zealand for the first time.

• However, their two previous victories have been followed a week later by a heavy defeat, 38-0 in 2020 and 53-3 in 2022.

• All three of Argentina’s wins in the fixture have come in the last four years and the latest win ended a run of three consecutive wins for New Zealand, including their Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final in France.

• Argentina created history with their first win on New Zealand soil in 2022 when they won 25-18 in Christchurch.

• Their first-ever win over the All Blacks came in Australia in November 2020 when Nicolás Sánchez scored all 25 of Los Pumas’ points in a 25-15 victory.

• New Zealand need 36 points to reach 1 500 in Tests against Argentina.

Team notes

• New Zealand have lost their opening match in a Rugby Championship campaign for only the second time since Argentina joined the tournament in 2012.

• The All Blacks lost 21-10 to South Africa in their 2022 opener, while the only other time they have failed to win was in 2014 when they drew 12-12 with Australia.

• They have never lost the first two games of a single Rugby Championship.

• New Zealand are unbeaten in their last 49 Tests at Eden Park with France the last team to beat them there – 23-20 in July 1994.

• There have been 47 wins and two draws in that streak, with an 18-18 stalemate against the Springboks just five weeks after the France loss in 1994, along with that infamous 15-15 result in the deciding match against the British and Irish Lions in 2017.

• They are seeking a 10th win in a row at Eden Park having beaten England there last month, 24-17.

• The loss to Argentina was New Zealand’s first under new coach Scott Robertson, who had won his first three games in charge with the All Blacks having backed up their 2-0 Test series win over England with a 47-5 victory against Fiji in San Diego.

• The All Blacks fielded six debutants in the Fiji fixture, including a start for centre Billy Proctor.

• Scrumhalf Noah Hotham and forwards Wallace Sititi, Sam Darry, Pasilio Tosi and George Bell all made their All Blacks bow off the bench.

• Winger Caleb Clarke and scrumhalf Cortez Ratima, on his first Test start, scored converted tries inside the opening 15 minutes before Proctor and Ardie Savea helped New Zealand into a 26-5 half-time lead.

• New Zealand's Fiji-born winger Sevu Reece opened the second-half scoring before front-rows Ethan de Groot and Bell went over for the last two tries, with flyhalf McKenzie landing six of his seven conversion attempts.

• New Zealand’s seven tries came from 15 visits into the Fijian 22, while they restricted Fiji to just one try from seven visits into their own ‘red zone’.

• New Zealand won the first Test against England 16-15 at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin and then won 24-17 as the All Blacks maintained their 30-year unbeaten record at Eden Park in Auckland.

• New Zealand only conceded 13 penalties across the two Tests against England and were in single figures against Fiji, too, with just eight given away.

• The All Blacks are yet to concede a yellow or red card.

• New Zealand have scored the first try in their last 11 matches, dating back to the 35-7 defeat to South Africa at Twickenham on the eve of Rugby World Cup 2023.

• Argentina have won their opening match of a Rugby Championship for the first time.

• They did win their first match in 2020 when it was only a three-team competition and so known as the Tri-Nations. That win also came against New Zealand.

• Last year was only the second time that Argentina have not finished bottom of The Rugby Championship standings. The other was in 2015.

• Four of Argentina’s 10 wins in The Rugby Championship have come in the last three years.

• It took 18 games before Los Pumas won a match in The Rugby Championship (D1, L17), the losing sequence broken with a 21-17 win over Australia in October 2014.

• Argentina have only picked up two try bonus points in 62 games in the competition (37-25 v South Africa in Durban in 2015 and 48-17 v Australia in San Juan in 2022).

• Argentina only received one yellow card in 2023 having picked up seven, including four v South Africa, the previous year.

• Argentina have only ever managed two wins in a single tournament twice.

• Los Pumas went into The Rugby Championship 2024 on the back of a record 79-5 win against Uruguay.

• Argentina, who have never lost to Los Teros, eclipsed their previous biggest win, 72-5 in 1998.

• Ignacio Mendy scored a hat-trick on the right wing in his first test appearance since 2021 and Mateo Carreras bagged a brace on the left.

• Back-row Joaquin Moro also scored twice on his debut, while the rest of the tries were scored by Jerónimo de la Fuente, Santiago Cordero, Joaquín Oviedo, debutant Francisco Coria Marchetti and Santiago Carreras.

• Tomas Albornoz kicked nine out of 12 conversions and also slotted a penalty for a 21-point haul.

• The Uruguay match followed a 1-1 drawn home series with France.

• Los Pumas were beaten 28-13 in Mendoza in their first home Test for a year.

• Captain Julián Montoya and Matías Orlando scored tries as Los Pumas rallied in the final quarter.

• Santiago Carreras’ penalty provided their only points in the first hour of play.

• Argentina hit back, however, to win the return match at Estadio José Amalfitani in Buenos Aires, 33-25, ending a four-match losing streak at home in the process.

• A late Thomas Gallo brace came after an Eduardo Bello try, a penalty try and a score for Carreras, who kicked three conversions.

• Argentina didn’t lose a single scrum on their own feed across the France series and only missed one of their throws (31/32).

• Los Pumas improved their average points per visit ratio from just 1.25 in the first game to 3 points in the second.

Team news

• Former captain Sam Cane is recalled to the All Black squad for the first time since his red card in the Rugby World Cup 2023 final against South Africa last October, the 95-Test veteran taking his place among the replacements.

• Robertson has made four changes to his starting line-up, one of them enforced with loose-head Tamaiti Williams replacing the injured De Groot (neck).

• The rest of the pack remains unchanged with Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax alongside Williams in the front row and Tupou Vaa’i and Sam Darry the second-row combination.

• Captain Savea goes again at No 8 with Ethan Blackadder and Dalton Papali’i named on the flanks.

• TJ Perenara and McKenzie continue as the half-back pairing with Jordie Barrett joined by Rieko Ioane in midfield for this encounter.

• Beauden Barrett is the only player retained in the back three with Caleb Clarke named on the left wing and Will Jordan on the right. It is a second start of the year for Clarke after the Fiji match in San Diego, while Jordan came off the bench last weekend having missed the entire Super Rugby Pacific season through injury.

• Argentina are boosted by the return of captain Julián Montoya who has missed their last two Tests with a rib injury.

• Montoya’s return for what will be his 98th test for Los Pumas means that Ignacio Ruiz drops to the bench so there is no place for Creevy, the sole survivor from Argentina’s only previous appearance at Eden Park during RWC 2011.

• Loosehead Thomas Gallo is the only player retained in the front row with Montoya and Lucio Sordoni completing the trio.

• Marcos Kremer shifts from openside to second row, his first start in that position since the 37-16 defeat of Italy in November 2021 with his last 24 starts all having come as a flanker.

• Kremer will line up alongside Pedro Rubiolo with Franco Molina dropping to the bench.

• Juan Martín González shifts across to fill the spot vacated by Kremer with Joaquín Oviedo coming in at No 8.

• The backline is unchanged with Gonzalo Bertranou and Santiago Carreras at half-back, Santiago Chocobares and Lucio Cinti in midfield and the trio of Mateo Carreras, Matías Moroni and Juan Cruz Mallía in the back three.

• The only new face on the bench is Bautista Delguy as Argentina opt for an extra back, the winger having last appeared in the Test series with France.

Coach notes

• Robertson was announced as New Zealand’s new head coach in March 2024, on a four-year deal through to the end of Rugby World Cup 2027 and suffered his first defeat against Argentina last weekend after victories over England (twice) and Fiji.

• Robinson, who turns 50 on 21 August, played 23 Tests for the All Blacks as a loose forward between 1998 and 2002.

• Following retirement from the professional game in 2007, Robertson began his coaching career with the Sumner Rugby Club in Christchurch, before moving into an assistant role with Canterbury in 2008 and then taking over as head coach in 2013, where he went on to win three Premiership titles between 2013 and 2016.

• He guided the Crusaders to six consecutive Super Rugby titles as head coach since 2017.

• Prior, to that he coached New Zealand to a World Rugby U20 Championship crown and most recently he coached the Barbarians FC to a win over the All Blacks XV last year.

• Contepomi was announced as Michael Cheika’s successor as Argentina head coach in December 2023.

• The former Los Pumas captain made his professional head coaching debut in 2015 with the Argentina XV, before taking assistant roles with the Jaguares, Leinster and most recently, Los Pumas.

• As an assistant to Cheika, Contepomi helped guide Argentina to a fourth-place finish at Rugby World Cup 2023.

• During his 15-year Test career as a skilful flyhalf/centre, 46-year-old Contepomi won 87 caps, 25 as captain, scored 651 points and played in four Rugby World Cups.

• Contepomi played in Argentina’s only previous match at Eden Park, starting at inside centre and converting Los Pumas’ only try in the 33-10 loss in the Rugby World Cup 2011 quarter-final.

• The twin brother of fellow Pumas international Manuel, he combined his playing career with his medical studies and finally collected his degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in May 2007.

All Blacks starting XV: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke; 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 TJ Perenara; 8 Ardie Savea (capt), 7 Dalton Papali’i, 6 Ethan Blackadder; 5 Sam Darry, 4 Tupou Vaa’i; 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Tamaiti Williams. Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Mark Tele’a.

Pumas starting XV: Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Matthias Moroni, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Matthew Carreras; 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou; 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera; 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Marcos Kremer; 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 1 Thomas Gallo. Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Tomas Lavanini, 21 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22 Thomas Albornoz, Bautista Delguy.