Michael Cheika keeps the faith as he aims to end Argentina tenure on a high

Los Pumas take on England in the Rugby World Cup bronze final on Friday evening before Cheika leaves his role as head coach

Michael Cheika enters his final game as Argentina head coach (AFP via Getty Images)

Michael Cheika has made three changes to the team for the final match of his polarising tenure as Argentina coach on Friday evening.

Los Pumas take on England in the ‘bronze final’ of the Rugby World Cup at the Stade de France, the third/fourth place play-off that no one wants to be in, although Argentina have been making all the right noises about the game being important this week.

“Finishing with a medal hanging round our necks is important. Being third or being fourth is not the same,” has been the mantra of the side during training in Paris.

With that in mind, Cheika has opted for minimal changes from the semi-final defeat to the All Blacks. Whereas England have made eight alterations to the starting XV, with a number of potentially retiring players given a final runout, Los Pumas have opted for just three switches.

The sole change in the pack comes in the second row as Pedro Rubiolo will win his 10^th cap in place of Tomas Lavanini, while Tomas Cubelli is preferred to Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum half and Jeronimo de la Fuente is drafted into the centres at the expense of Santiago Chocobares.

The bench is unchanged from the semi-final, meaning Lavanini, Bertranou and Chocobares drop out of the matchday 23 entirely.

Julian Montoya captains the side from hooker in his 95^th Argentina appearance, while Matias Moroni will win his 80^th Test cap if he comes off the bench in Paris.

Argentina legend Felipe Contepomi will take over as Pumas coach after the World Cup (AFP via Getty Images)

The match will be Cheika’s final clash in charge, with Felipe Contepomi taking the reins after the World Cup. On paper, the Australian’s 18-month tenure has been a relative success with a first-ever win over the All Blacks in New Zealand in the summer of 2022 and a joint best-ever World Cup finish of third, should they beat England on Friday.

However, they have largely failed to back up those positive moments, with plenty of disappointments in between, and Cheika has often failed to connect with Los Pumas fans.

He will hope to end on a high however, as they look to match the result from the 2007 World Cup of finishing third and avenge the 27-10 defeat to 14-man England from the pool stage last month.

Argentina XV to face England in bronze final: 15. Juan Cruz Mallia, 14. Emiliano Boffelli, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11. Mateo Carreras, 10. Santiago Carreras. 9. Tomas Cubelli; 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Julian Montoya, 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 4. Guido Petti, 5. Pedro Rubiolo, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Marcos Kremer, 8. Facundo Isa.

Replacements: 16. Agustin Creevy, 17. Joel Sclavi, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Rodrigo Bruni, 21. Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22. Nicolas Sanchez, 23. Matias Moroni