The Tigers loosehead prop was one of the stars of last weekend's win over England at Twickenham, when he faced up to club colleague Julian White. And although coach Marcelo Loffreda has made eight changes, he is retained for his 10th cap in the front row - in direct competition with Leicester's Martin Castrogiovanni who is named at tighthead for the Azzurri.
Argentina, of course, have now agreed a fixture against Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday, February 11, so there will be extra interest in their efforts as they build up to the World Cup and a campaign to justify their ranking as world No.6. Ayerza has a new front-row partner as Martin Scelzo steps up from the bench to replace Omar Hasan. Among the other Argentina changes is the absence of regular captain Agustin Pichot and fly-half Felipe Contepomi who is attending his medical studies in Dublin.
The 25-year-old Castrogiovanni earns his 39th cap for Italy as coach Pierre Berbizier makes just one change to his starting line-up after a 25-18 defeat by Australia last week. David Bortolussi returns at full-back after injury with South Africa-born Gert Peens dropping out of the 22. On the bench, hooker Fabio Ongaro, who has been named in the World XV squad for their match against South Africa at Leicester City's Walkers Stadium on December 3, replaces Leonardo Ghiraldini.
Teams:
Argentina: 15 Juan Martin Hernández, 14 Ignacio Corleto, 13 Miguel Avramovic, 12 Manuel Contepomi, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 8 Gonzalo Longo (captain), 7 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand. 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Esteban Lozada, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Juan Gómez, 18 Jaime Arocena, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Hernán Senillosa, 22 Pablo Gómez Cora
Italy: 15 David Bortolussi, 14 Pablo Canavosio, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Marko Stanojevic, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Andrea Scanavacca, 22 Walter Pozzebon.
