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For both sides, it’s an opportunity for players to solidify their respective first teams. The Argentine XV will be hoping to showcase their talents to catch the eye of Los Pumas head coach, Felipe Contepomi. Pat Lam will be using this as an opportunity to give his academy players some minutes at the senior level, and to see who the Bristol Bear stars are of tomorrow are.
Bristol will go into this game with an inexperienced side, full of academy players, due to injuries to key players and others on international duty.
Argentina suffered a narrow defeat last week, to Munster at Thomond Park, so will be looking to get back to winning ways.
Bristol: Despite injury woes, they’ve maintained some semblance of form, notching four wins out of six in the premiership, but also received a heavy defeat from local rivals in the last outing. This team sheet is very different to recent outings, so form won’t be much of a predictor in this game.
Argentina: This will be their third game of 2025, with a convincing win over Romania in July and the aforementioned loss to Munster. Before that the Los Pumas XV hadn’t played since 2023, so much like Bristol, form will be hard to predict, but for different reasons.
For Bristol: Their backs generally are the more experienced players on the pitch, (notably Protheroe at fly-half, Heward at full-back and Bates at centre) so I predict that they will try to run the ball rather than rely on set piece moves to gain territory due to the more inexperienced forward pack.
For Argentina: No team sheet has been released at the time of writing, but if selected, former Olympian, Tobias Wade (full-back) will be one to watch. He has netted tries on his last two outings in sky blue & white.
Argentina’s experience vs Bristol’s untested youngsters: If Argentina can assert dominance physically on the less experienced players, they’ll likely control territory and create more point scoring opportunities.
Bristol’s backs & speed vs Argentina's physicality: To win this game, Bristol will aim to utilise width and pace from the backs; Argentina will look to close them down quickly at the gain line. The Argentine XV dominated the early part of their last outing with Munster through their physical prowess, something they will look to do on Friday also.
Despite home advantage, lack of experience will undoubtedly be a big hurdle to overcome for Bristol against a physical Argentinian side, who also are potent in attack. If the handful of fully fledged senior players can provide leadership and keep the youngsters organised, the team won’t give the Pumas an easy night.
Predicted result: Argentina XV to win by around 10-15 points.
Argentina XV to have the upper hand in the set pieces and use their physical presence to gain points through driving mauls and kickable scrum penalties.
Bristol to create quick ball and move it through hands out wide, especially if they spot Argentina out of structure.
Key metrics will be: Handling errors, scrum/line-outs.
If Bristol are to upset: minimise handling errors, and use accurate offloads to exploit Argentinian defence as Munster did.
If Argentina are to seal it: try to slow Bristol ball at the breakdown to disrupt attacking rhythm. Effective execution in scrums/lineouts to gain territory.
