Coach Felipe Contepomi announced on Thursday five changes from the side beaten 42-12 by Ireland in Dublin last Friday.
Bautista Bernasconi, who joined the squad on Monday, takes over from Montoya at hooker, with last week’s replacement Leonel Oviedo also unavailable after suffering a sprain to his left knee, which rules him out for the rest of the competition. Facundo Bosch is the substitute hooker, having won his last cap for Argentina five years ago.
There are changes among the loose forwards where Matera moves from number eight to blindside flanker with Joaquin Moro on the open side and Juan Martin Scelzo at the back of the scrum. Juan Martin Gonzalez has been dropped to the bench, while Marcos Kremer is out with a right ankle sprain.
Simon Benitez Cruz will play at scrumhalf in place of Gonzalo Garcia, who is among the substitutes.
With Juan Cruz Mallia hurting his knee last Friday, Bautista Delguy moves to fullback and his place on the right wing is taken by Rodrigo Isgro.
Nations Championship 2026
The inaugural Nations Championship will see six northern hemisphere and six southern hemisphere nations battle it out across six rounds in the July and November international windows before assembling in Twickenham for one unforgettable finals weekend on November 27-29.
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Argentina team:
Starters: 15-Bautista Delguy, 14-Rodrigo Isgro, 13-Justo Piccardo, 12-Santiago Chocobares, 11-Mateo Carreras, 10-Tomas Albornoz, 9-Simon Benitez Cruz, 8-Juan Martin Scelzo, 7-Joaquin Moro, 6-Pablo Matera, 5-Pedro Rubiolo, 4-Guido Petti, 3-Francisco Moreno, 2-Bautista Bernasconi, 1-Boris Wenger
Replacements: 16-Facundo Bosch, 17-Mayco Vivas, 18-Joel Sclavi, 19-Efraín Elias, 20-Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21-Facundo Isa, 22-Gonzalo Garcia, 23-Geronimo Prisciantelli
Italy team:
Starters: 15-Tommaso Allan; 14-Ange Capuozzo, 13-Paolo Odogwu, 12-Leonardo Marin, 11-Monty Ioane; 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Stephen Varney; 8-Lorenzo Cannone, 7-Manuel Zuliani, 6-Ross Vintcent; 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Niccolo Cannone; 3-Simone Ferrari, 2-Giacomo Nicotera (capt), 1-Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16-Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17-Muhamed Hasa, 18-Marco Riccioni, 19-Enoch Opoku Gyamfi, 20-Alessandro Ortombina, 21-Samuele Locatelli, 22-Alessandro Garbisi, 23-Federico Mori