The grunt up front may be sorted to take on the might of the black machine but what's happening with Argentina's backline?
With 117 points to his credit, second five-eighths Juan Martin Hernndez will be playing his second test in that position against the All Blacks in Napier tonight.
The 32-year-old, with 45 caps under his belt, prefers the first five-eighth position but his versatility means he makes way for two specialists - Nicolas Sanchez as the first-choice pivot and fullback Joaquin Tuculet.
So is the player nicknamed El Mago (The Magician) happy and is the experiment working in the petri dish of coach Daniel Hourcade's laboratory?
Captain Agustin Creevy, fronting the media scrum at McLean Park last night, confirmed "The Maradona of Rugby" might not be happy but he was game to roll up his sleeves for the collective good when asked to do so on the international stage.
"He's a great player and will play in any position required of him for his country with his touch of quality," Creevy said of the Racing Metro utility back who plies his trade in Paris in the Top 14 competition.
A cog in the Argentina wheel, Hernndez has also played in the South African Currie Cup with the Natal Sharks. He was bracketed to play with the Sharks in Super Rugby in 2010 but a back injury shattered his dreams of a Super Rugby season.
Juggling a rugby ball akin to a football player from Argentina during the captain's run at McLean Park, Hernndez yesterday went through the motions with his teammates in what appeared to be a public relations exercise.
There's no questioning the pedigree of a man who made his debut for Los Pumas against Paraguay on April 2003.
His uncle, Patricio Hernndez, was part of the Argentine squad for the 1982 Fifa World Cup.
His sister, Mara de la Paz "Maripi" Hernndez, has won silver and gold medals for her country and was here for the inaugural Hawke's Bay New Zealand Festival of Hockey, which staged the Six Nations Tournament that Argentina won in April.
The IRB-nominated Juan Martin Hernndez was one of the five candidates for the 2007 International Player of the Year award, which Springbok Bryan Habana won.
Before the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Hernndez was named on a list of candidates for the greatest first five-eighth in Rugby World Cup history.
Like openside flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamon and blindside flanker Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Hernndez is classed a "Bronze Generation" player in his country because of their third placing at the 2007 World Cup in France.
But in today's 7.35pm kick-off, it's what Hourcade thinks that matters.
In a nutshell, the coach is happy with how things are progressing after their agonisingly close defeat to South Africa in the previous round of the Rugby Championship.
Sanchez, who has 23 caps, has already amassed 174 points for his country.
Hourcade and Creevy often find a common denominator, a rapport they built with the former as coach in the Pampas XV side who played in the Vodacom Cup in South Africa.
"Creevy is the disciple of the coach," a visiting scribe said last night of the 29-year-old hooker who himself epitomises the essence of versatility.
A third rower in the scrum, the captain took on board suggestions in Europe that he should assume the mantle of a rake.
He did, it seems, with aplomb and now marshals the front row with the sort of aggression the world has come to expect from the South Americans, who fuel their engine with Pampas protein.
Hanging tough with loosehead prop Marcos Ayerza, 31, is a given but tighthead Ramiro Herrera, 25, is wet around the ears and will make his Rugby Championship debut tonight.
Primarily Hourcade wants his troops to shed the shackles of predecessor Santiago Phelan, under whose regime kicking away possession was perceived to be a futile exercise.
"The Pumas' game was very predictable," the journalist said.
Despite the rain, McLean Park was firm underfoot yesterday and if it holds Creevy and Co will adjust to the conditions but attack when the opportunity arises.
Keeping the pill in hand and resorting to shorter passes will be in the offing after the tight five recycle the ball.
Dropping off the pace in the last 20 minutes, as happened against the Springboks, is something Los Pumas wish to iron out.
Although they haven't won a championship game, the Argentina stable are satisfied they are making enough incremental gains to some day challenge the ABs, Boks and the Wallabies in a bid to knock them off their perches.