Australia coach Kiss braced for 'scary' second test against Pumas

SYDNEY, Sept 3 : Australia coach Les Kiss believes the Wallabies have been heading in the right direction in his brief spell in charge, but he is not getting carried away ahead of what he described as a "scary" second test against Argentina on Saturday.

 Kiss has led Australia to three wins from three matches since he took over from Joe Schmidt in late July, including last weekend's narrow 27-21 victory over the Pumas in San Salvador de Jujuy.

Australia have never won both matches on a tour of Argentina, however, and on their last visit in 2024 were crushed 67-27 in the second test after winning the first.

"The direction's been solid, but we won't get ahead of ourselves," Kiss told reporters from Argentina after naming his team for the Mendoza clash on Friday.

"This weekend is scary in its own right because it's the second test. Not many teams do it the second time around, and we know what happened last time, so we just want to make sure we're in front of everything that we can be.

 "This is a bloody good Argentinian team. They've got big lock forwards and a big back row presence, so it won't be easy. We know that if you give them something, they'll take it, and if they take it once, they'll take it ten times. That's how good they can be."

With a match against world champions South Africa and two against New Zealand to come before the second half of the Nations Championship, Kiss on Friday again rang the changes in his team in an attempt to keep his players fresh.

Ben Donaldson will start at flyhalf for the first time this year in place of Carter Gordon, who suffered a nasty gash on his head last week and will back up from the bench.

Len Ikitau and Joseph Suaalii will pair up in the centres in place of the Hunter