Live Test rugby: All Blacks v Pumas in Rugby Championship opener

Rugby Championship: “NZ All Blacks vs Argentina” airs TONIGHT (July 20 2019)

Another Test prop, Tim Perry, is also back on the bench from a broken  arm as coach ScottRobertson unveiled a team with the luxury of listing  Luke Romano, Jordan Taufua andBraydon Ennor among the reserves.

“Owie is probably not an impact player, he’s a great starter, and he’s had a couple of extraweeks to get his engine going,” Robertson  said.

“When you’ve played 300 first class games, I think experience counts when you come intothese big games.

“They’re great athletes and professionals.”

Meanwhile, the Highlanders have also received a massive boost with  All Blacks star BenSmith cleared to return from a long- term hamstring  injury.

Co-captain Smith has been out for six weeks but will start at fullback in a Highlanders sidefeaturing three changes to the starting  side.

Smith replaces Josh McKay, Patelesio Tomkinson comes in for Tevita Li  on the left wingwhile Daniel Lienert-Brown gets the nod at loosehead  prop ahead of Ayden Johnstone.

After a big win over the Waratahs, Highlanders assistant coach Mark  Hammett believed hisside were capable of knocking over the two-time  defending champions.

“We know that they are a good team, but we also know that when we put things togetherwe’re a good team as well,” Hammett said.

“Against the Bulls, defensively we raised it big time

and on the weekend it was probably thebest it’s been.

“I thought we added a bit more precision to our attack in what were pretty tough conditions.

“I feel like from the perspective of how we want to play and where we want to get to, we’regetting closer.” Source Article: AllBlacks vs Argentina on Microsoft Sway