David Pocock will captain the Wallabies against Argentina on Saturday after regular skipper Michael Hooper’s late withdrawal with a hamstring injury.

Hooper was pulled from the side ahead of Friday’s captain’s run at Gold Coast’s Cbus Super Stadium, continuing the side’s torrid injury run of late.

“He felt his hamstring a bit at training yesterday afternoon and with his recent history, we just thought it was best not to push it,” Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said.

“He was really keen to play this weekend but a week off will be a good thing for him to just get it right.”

Peter Samu will move from the bench to start at No.8 alongside new No.7 Pocock, while Ned Hanigan has been added to the reserves.

It marks the third time in the Wallabies’ four Rugby Championship matches in the series that at least one player has been pulled from the originally-named squad.

Pocock (neck) and Israel Folau (ankle) were both pulled before last weekend’s win against South Africa, while Adam Coleman was a game-day scratching after he flew home for the impending birth of his first child.

Taniela Tupou (hamstring) was also a last-minute withdrawal from the series-opening loss to New Zealand in Sydney.

All four are back in the side to face Los Pumas on Saturday, but it continues to be a different-looking Wallabies outfit with Folau on the wing rather than in his usual No.15 jersey and Bernard Foley benched again in favour of a Matt Toomua-Kurtley Beale play-making combination.

The Wallabies can jump to second in the Rugby Championship standings, behind the All Blacks, with a win on Saturday.

UPDATED SQUADS

Australia: Dane Haylett-Petty, Israel Folau, Reece Hodge, Marika Koroibete, Matt Toomua, Kurtley Beale, Will Genia, Pete Samu, David Pocock (c), Lukhan Tui, Izack Rodda, Rory Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Scott Sio. Reserves: Folau Faingaa, Sekope Kepu, Taniela Tupou, Adam Coleman, Ned Hanigan, Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley, Jack Maddocks

Argentina: Emiliano Boffelli, Bautista Delguy, Matias Moroni, Jeronimo De La Fuente, Ramiro Moyano, Nicolas Sanchez, Gonzalo Bertranou, Javier Ortega Desio, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Guido Petti, Santiago Medrano, Agustin Creevy (captain), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro. Reserves: Julian Montoya, Santiago Garcia Botta, Juan Pablo Zeiss, Matias Alemanno, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Martin Landajo, Bautista Ezcurra, Juan Cruz Mallia