Pumas keep perspective after opening upset

Argentina will go into their World Cup Pool D clash with Georgia in Lyon having risen to fourth in the latest International Rugby Board world rankings – their highest position.

The Pumas’ 17-12 win over France on the opening night of the tournament has lifted them two places in the charts, taking them above Les Bleus in the process.

Confidence could not be higher in the Argentinian camp heading into the clash with Georgia, who will be playing their first game in the 2007 tournament.

But scrum-half Agustin Pichot, one of nine players in tonight’s starting line-up retained by coach Marcelo Loffreda following the victory against France, has warned his team not to get too carried away.

“We can’t ruin in one match all the good things we did in the victory against Les Bleus,” he said.

“We must take this game against Georgia seriously, and with a desire to continue in the same vein.”

Pichot, who left Stade Francais this summer to join fellow French outfit Racing Metro for next season, will resume his half-back partnership with Juan Martin Hernandez, again picked at number 10 despite being a full-back by trade.

“We haven’t got 30 matches together behind us, so we need to play together to find out more about each other,” said Pichot, who was a colleague of Hernandez’s at Stade.

The only changes in the back line see Gonzalo Tiesi replace Manuel Contepomi at centre, and Federico Martin Aramburu come in for Horacio Agulla on the left wing.

The pack is the same as the one that finished at the Stade de France on Friday, so only hooker Mario Ledesma is retained.

Marcos Ayerza and Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino come in at prop, Rimas Alvarez Kairelis starts at lock and flanker Martin Durand is given the nod in the back row.

“Georgia aren’t an easy team to play against – they are solid up front,”

said Loffreda.

“It is for this reason that, even if we really haven’t had enough time to recover, I have decided to trust the majority of the team who won against France.”

Eleven of the players who will start for Georgia featured in the 2003 World Cup in Australia.

The entire pack play their club rugby in France, and the Georgians will be fresher after Argentina’s exertions on Friday.

Clermont-Auvergne prop Davit Zirakachvili said: “We want to disrupt one of the best packs in the world.

“We have nothing to lose. Argentina proved against France that it isn’t always the favourites that win.”