Australia play host to Argentina in round four of the 2025 Rugby Championship on Saturday. The early afternoon kick-off time converts into 1am live viewing in Argentina. Game one was also an afternoon clash and was a thriller in Townsville. Game two will be played at a traditional rugby city as a Sold Out Sydney Football Stadium awaits the Wallabies and Los Pumas.
Game one was decided six minutes beyond regulation game time. The outcome marked the latest chapter in an increasingly competitive rugby test match rivalry between Australia and Argentina. The teams split two match series’ in 2024 and in 2022 and Argentina won the one fixture between the sides in Sydney in 2023.
Game two in Sydney on Saturday proves the Wallabies with a prime opportunity to come away with more competition points and compete for the title. On the flip side, if Los Pumas can level the series then the Rugby Championship may well remain wide-open until the last matches of the competition.
The 2025 Rugby Championship has been highly competitive. Australia defeat South Africa in Johannesburg and Argentina defeated world no. 1 New Zealand in Buenos Aires. Notwithstanding, South Africa and New Zealand decided to contest “The Greatest Rugby Rivalry” in 2026. This means that the Rugby Championship will be played on a biennial rather than an annual basis after 2025.
Australia enter as 6th in the world and Argentina 7th. Securing a win is vital for World Rankings security for the Rugby World Cup 2027 draw, in December. If Los Pumas can win in Sydney then Argentina will overtake Australia in the World Rankings. This would place Argentina in the top bracket (ranked 1-6) for the Rugby World Cup 2027 draw.
Current World Ranking: 6 (85.40 points)
2025-08-23 – Australia 28-24 Argentina (Townsville, AU)
2025-08-23 – South Africa 30-22 Australia (Cape Town, ZA)
2025-08-16 – South Africa 22-38 Australia (Johannesburg, ZA)
2025-08-02 – Australia 22-12 British & Irish Lions (Sydney, AU)
2025-07-26 – Australia 26-29 British & Irish Lions (Melbourne, AU)
2025-07-19 – Australia 19-27 British & Irish Lions (Brisbane, AU)
2025-07-06 – Australia 21-18 Fiji (Newcastle, AU)
Current World Ranking: 7 (82.84 points)
2025-08-23 – Australia 28-24 Argentina (Townsville, AU)
2025-08-23 – Argentina 29-23 New Zealand (Buenos Aires, AR)
2025-08-16 – Argentina 24-41 New Zealand (Córdoba, AR)
2025-07-19 – Argentina 52-17 Uruguay (Salta, AR)
2025-07-12 – Argentina 17-22 England (San Juan, AR)
2025-07-05 – Argentina 12-35 England (La Plata, AR)
2025-06-20 – British & Irish Lions 24-28 Argentina (Dublin, IE)
 |
IN | OUT |
| 1 | James Slipper | Tom Robertson |
| 4 | Jeremy Williams | Nick Frost |
| 10 | Tane Edmed | Tom Lynagh |
| 12 | Hunter Paisami | Len Ikitau |
|
IN | OUT |
| 4 | Guido Petti | Franco Molina |
| 8 | Joaquin Oviedo | Pablo Matera |
| 14 | Rodrigo Isgró | Bautista Delguy |
– J Slipper (148), N White (76), T Tupou (62), R Valetini (55), J O’Connor (67), T McDermott (48)
– P Matera (115), J Montoya (111), G Petti (92), M Kremer (76), S Carreras (58), JM González (45), JC Mallía (45)
– T Edmed (2), C Toole (2), J Nasser (6), C Tizzano (9), JA Suaalii (11), F Daugunu (12), B Pollard (13)
– B Wenger (1), I Mendy (3), A Moyano (3), F Coria Marchetti (4), J Piccardo (6), R Isgró (10)
– Will Skelton (LO), Noah Lolesio (FH), Tom Wright (FB)
– Thomas Gallo (LO), Eduardo Bello (TH), Tomás Albornoz (FH)
Joe Schmidt (Head Coach)
“While managing injuries is always a challenge, we’re excited to have some fresh bodies who have been training hard with the group for a number of weeks and are keen to contribute. Argentina led for the whole game in Townsville until the very end and we’re very aware of the threat they’ll pose on Saturday afternoon. We’ll need to be better than we were last week.”
Felipe Contepomi (Head Coach)
“Five matches in the past two years have been decided in the final 2 or 3 minutes and in all five there were controversial rulings in the final minutes. Unfortunately those rulings went against us. So, it leaves a bit of bitterness, actually frustration.”
- The match is game 2 between the Wallabies and Pumas in Australia in the 2025 Rugby Championship.
- It is an important fixture in terms of World Rugby rankings ahead of the World Cup draw in December.
- The most recent match between the teams in Sydney saw Argentina winning 34-31 in 2023.
- James Slipper returns for an Australian record 149th test cap.
- Jeremy Williams is elevated to start. He comes in for Nick Frost who is out with back pain.
- Tane Edmet earns his first start for Australia. He is the fourth starting Wallabies’ fly half in 2025.
- Hunter Paisami earns his first cap of 2025. He replaces Len Ikitau who had 3 try assists in Townsville.
- Replacements Josh Nasser (hooker) and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (second-row) earn their first caps of 2025.
- The Wallabies’ five line-breaks in Townsville was more than the combined total from New Zealand in their two matches against Argentina this year.
- Marcos Kremer made 31 tackles in game one in Townsville.
- Julián Montoya leads Argentina for the 50th time. He recently overtook Lisandro Arbizu. Agustín Creevy holds the Pumas captaincy record with 51 caps as captain.
- Mayco Vivas, Julián Montoya, Pedro Rubiolo and Pablo Matera have played in all 7 Pumas’ matches in 2025.
- Argentina’s 23 players are all homegrown.
- Filipo Daugunu, Hunter Paisami and Taniela Tupou are not homegrown Wallabies.
- Argentina will play in their alternate colors of dark blue.
Unforgiving heat from the tropics asked questions of the players in Townsville. Despite being cooler, the match will again be in the early afternoon and Sydney with warm and sunny conditions forecast. Australia’s remarkable comeback caught the imagination of the locals as tickets to the game in Sydney have officially sold out. A frustrated Argentina aim to overturn the Townsville result and find a way to successfully close out the contest in Sydney. Australia are slight favorites to win in Sydney.
AUSTRALIA
1 James Slipper, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Jeremy Williams, 5 Tom Hooper, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (capt.), 9 Nic White, 10 Tane Edmed, 11 Corey Toole, 12 Hunter Paisami, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Max Jorgensen, 15 Andrew Kellaway
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 James O’Connor, 23 Filipo Daugunu
ARGENTINA
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo García, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía (vice-capt.)
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruíz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Pablo Matera (vice-capt.), 21 Agustín Moyano, 22 Justo Piccardo, 23 Ignacio Mendy
Date: Saturday, September 13
Kickoff: 2:00pm (Australian EST); 1:00am (Argentina)
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium (Sydney, AU)
Broadcasts: ESPN, Disney + (Argentina)
Weather Forecast: Sunny, 19°C, wind 14 km/h
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland); Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
FPRO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
| COMPLETE RESULTS – vs (1979-2024) |
2025/09/06 – Australia 28-24 Argentina (Townsville, AU)
2024/09/07 – Argentina 67-27 Australia (Santa Fe, AR)
2024/08/31 – Argentina 19-20 Australia (La Plata, AR)
2023/07/15 – Australia 31-34 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
2022/08/13 – Argentina 48-17 Australia (San Juan, AR)
2022/08/06 – Argentina 26-41 Australia (Mendoza, AR)
2021/10/02 – Australia 32-17 Argentina (Gold Coast, AU)
2021/09/25 – Australia 27-08 Argentina (Townsville, AU)
2020/12/05 – Australia 16-16 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
2020/11/21 – Australia 15-15 Argentina (Newcastle, AU)
2019/07/27 – Australia 19-10 Argentina (Brisbane, AU)
2018/10/06 – Argentina 34-45 Australia (Salta, AR)
2018/09/15 – Australia 19-23 Argentina (Gold Coast, AU)
2017/10/07 – Argentina 20-37 Australia (Mendoza, AR)
2017/09/16 – Australia 45-20 Argentina (Canberra, AU)
2016/10/08 – Argentina 21-33 Australia (London, UK)
2016/09/17 – Australia 36-20 Argentina (Perth, AU)
2015/10/25 – Australia 29-15 Argentina (London, UK)
2015/07/25 – Argentina 9-34 Australia (Mendoza, AR)
2014/10/04 – Argentina 21-17 Australia (Mendoza, AR)
2014/09/13 – Australia 32-25 Argentina (Gold Coast, AU)
2013/10/05 – Argentina 17-54 Australia (Rosario, AR)
2013/09/14 – Australia 14-13 Argentina (Perth, AU)
2012/10/06 – Argentina 19-25 Australia (Rosario, AR)
2012/09/15 – Australia 23-19 Argentina (Gold Coast, AU)
2003/10/10 – Australia 24-8 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
2002/11/02 – Argentina 06-17 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
2000/06/24 – Australia 32-25 Argentina (Canberra, AU)
2000/06/17 – Australia 53-06 Argentina (Brisbane, AU)
1983/11/08 – Argentina 18-16 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
1997/11/01 – Argentina 15-23 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
1995/05/06 – Australia 30-13 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
1995/04/30 – Australia 53-07 Argentina (Brisbane, AU)
1991/10/04 – Australia 32-19 Argentina (Llanelli, UK)
1987/11/07 – Argentina 27-19 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
1987/10/31 – Argentina 19-19 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
1986/07/12 – Australia 26-0 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
1986/07/06 – Australia 39-19 Argentina (Brisbane, AU)
1983/08/07 – Australia 29-13 Argentina (Sydney, AU)
1983/07/31 – Australia 03-18 Argentina (Brisbane, AU)
1979/11/03 – Argentina 12-27 Australia (Buenos Aires (AR)
1979/10/27 – Argentina 24-13 Australia (Buenos Aires, AR)
| HEAD TO HEAD –vs (1979-2025) |
Wins 30 Wins 9
Draws 3
