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Pumas will not be swayed from attack

Mendoza - Argentina's last meeting with Australia, in which they notched their first Rugby Championship win nine months ago, will be foremost in both teams' minds when they clash again at the same Mendoza venue on Saturday.

For the Wallabies, boosted by their 24-20 win over South Africa in Brisbane last weekend, it will be a matter of setting the record straight.

The issue is more complicated for the Pumas, who recognise they caught Australia at a low ebb in October and must improve markedly on their 39-18 defeat by New Zealand in Christchurch last Friday.

Pumas coach Daniel Hourcade will not veer, though, from his attacking game plan.

"We must improve our game, do what we practice in training sessions. The system is this one," Hourcade said in an interview with the sports daily Ole published on Wednesday. "We're not going to change our playing idea.

"That's the message, we won't change because we played badly," he said after New Zealand scored five tries and ran the defence ragged at times.

"The positive thing was not to have dropped (our arms), to have reacted. We haven't lost that (quality)," he said of Argentina's recovery with two tries midway through the second half from driving mauls.

Some of his team's mistakes were due to players' anxiety of having World Cup places on their minds and acting as individuals and not as a team, Hourcade said.

Their attacking game plans are the only way, he said, to get good results in the Championship, with the Springboks next in Durban on Aug. 15, and the World Cup.

"You can't beat them defending yourself. To beat them you have to take risks, attack them, look to break them and not wait for them to make mistakes," Hourcade said.

He is expecting a tough Wallaby side who will apply as much pressure as the All Blacks did looking to avenge last year's 21-17 defeat at the Malvinas Argentinas stadium, the Pumas' fifth win in 23 meetings with Australia.

"Last year, they came with lots of problems, another coaching staff and without the motivation to become champions," Hourcade said.

"Now they're coming from beating South Africa and they'll give their lives to win this tournament. They have what it takes, they're not the same as 2014."

Australia's coach Michael Cheika has also made seven changes as he looks to see other players in positions where he believes he has two equally good candidates.

Teams:

Argentina

15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Javier Ortega Desio, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustin Creevy (captain), 1 Marcos Ayerza

Substitutes: 16 Santiago Iglesias Valdez, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Matias Diaz, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

Australia

15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 James Slipper

Substitutes: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Michael Hooper, 21 Nic White, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Kurtley Beale

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