Argentina revert to Scots

The Pumas finished third at the last World Cup and, having never beaten New Zealand, are rank outsiders to break the All Blacks' 17-year unbeaten run at Eden Park on Sunday.

Felipe Contepomi, who needs just five points on Sunday to overtake Puma great Hugo Porta as Argentina's all-time leading points scorer, said they would need to play the "perfect game" and enjoy more than a little luck.

"We are playing against the best team in the world," the 34-year-old said. "We have been growing match-by-match and we hope to put up a performance we can be proud of and if that leads to a win then so much better.

"If both teams play at 100 percent then the odds will be against us but it is sport and anything can happen in that 80 minutes."

An Argentina victory on Sunday would rank as the greatest ever World Cup upset and Contepomi said even two close Tests between the teams over the last decade were not much reassurance.

"Those two games were at home with 40,000 people cheering us on," he said. "Here we know we are playing the hosts."

Coach Santiago Phelan said they would attempt to control the pace of the game against the tournament favourites, who romped through the pool phase scoring 36 tries in four games.

"They have a very solid team with very few weak points," he said. "We will try to concentrate on trying to control the rhythm of the game to something we feel comfortable with."

Phelan reverted largely to the side that dramatically beat Scotland in the pool phase for Sunday's match when he named his team on Friday.

The only change from the starting line-up from that 13-12 win over the Scots was that enforced by the tournament-ending knee injury to number eight Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, who is replaced at the back of the scrum by Leonardo Senatore.

Senatore played in Argentina's last pool match against Georgia and there are four changes from that team with prop Rodrigo Roncero, lock Manuel Carizza, winger Gonzalo Camacho and fullback Martin Rodriguez all restored to the side.

Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, whose converted try beat Scotland and effectively ensured Argentina's path to the knockout phase, returns to the replacements bench after starting at fullback in the disappointing 25-7 win over Georgia.

Contepomi implied that the Argentines did not see the selection of his former Toulon team-mate Sonny Bill Williams in the unfamiliar position of winger for the All Blacks as a potential weakness to exploit with their high kicking.

"I've trained with him for a year," he grinned ruefully. "He caught a lot of high balls."

Team: 15-Martin Rodriguez, 14-Gonzalo Camacho, 13-Marcelo Bosch, 12-Felipe Contepomi (captain), 11-Horacio Agulla, 10-Santiago Fernandez, 9-Nicolas Vergallo, 8-Leonardo Senatore, 7-Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6-Julio Farias Cabello, 5-Patricio Albacete, 4-Manuel Carizza, 3-Juan Figallo, 2-Mario Ledesma, 1-Rodrigo Roncero

Replacements: 16-Agustin Creevy, 17-Martin Scelzo, 18-Marcos Ayerza, 19-Alejandro Campos, 20-Alfredo Lalanne, 21-Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 22-Juan Jose Imhoff