Should the British and Irish Lions consider touring Argentina?

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By True Tah, 4 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: Argentina rugby, british and irish lions, International Rugby, IRB World Cup, Rugby Union

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The current British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa has confirmed that this tradition of rugby should continue well into the future.

However, in the British press, there have been calls that the current tour of South Africa could have included a stopover in Argentina, as it was felt ten games was too short a tour.

I would go one step further and propose Argentina as a tour unto itself.

Of course, Los Pumas are hardly new opponents of the Lions, holding them to a 25-all draw in 2005. However, would the Home Nations side ever consider a tour to South America in itself?

Historically Argentina has been nowhere near as strong as the three Southern Hemisphere rugby superpowers in offering stern resistance to British sides. In more recent times, Los Pumas have proven to be more than a handful for all of the Home Nations, recording consistent victories over all of them in the past three years and have always been tough opponents on their home turf.

In accordance with this surge in performance, rugby in Argentina has become far more popular, with most Test matches being sellouts and close to 100,000 players throughout the country.

With this in mind, I believe it would be a worthwhile tour for the Lions to undertake.

Indeed, as the UAR have not made any bids to host the IRB World Cup, and given that there are no signs anytime soon of Argentina joining the Tri Nations, a Lions Tour would be the next best thing.

The thousands of Lions supporters who would descend upon the country would be a massive boost for the Argentine economy. And a big boost for Argentine rugby.

The Lions tour should by no means be confined to Argentina. They should definitely consider playing games in Uruguay or Chile, to promote the game in South America. This is keeping with the Lions having played games in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Fiji in the past, as a part of a larger tour.

In fact, until the 1989 tour, Australia was merely perceived as an entrée to the main tour in New Zealand. Being granted a Lions Tour would announce that the Pumas are ready to dine at the high table of world rugby.

A possible tour itinerary could be:
Match 1 – v Uruguay (Montevideo)
Match 2 – v Chile (Santiago)
Match 3 – v Buenos Aires Campeanato Argentino (Buenos Aires)
Match 4 – v Tucuman Campeanato Argentino (Tucuman)
Match 5 – v Buenos Aires Club Champions (Buenos Aires)
Match 6 – v Rosario Campeanato Argentino (Rosario)
Match 7 – 1st Test v Los Pumas (Tucuman)
Match 8 – v Jaguars (effectively Argentina A) (Salta)
Match 9 – 2nd Test v Los Pumas (Buenos Aires)
Match 10 – 3rd Test v Los Pumas (Santa Fe)

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The Crowd Says (8) | Page 1 of Comments

Ian Noble said | July 4th 2009 @ 2:42am | Report comment

Yes is the obvious answer, but how do you fit it into the International calendar. The SH would regret giving away profitable game against Four Nations to allow the Lions to tour Argentina. By the way, I think the suggested itinerary is excellent and on the recent game in Salta v England, the crowd were enthusiatic and arriving three hours before the game is perhaps indicative of a country crying out for more international rugby. As a matter of interest when did tthe SH nations last tour Argentina, perhaps somebody could inform me.

One of the reasons the Pumas have improved so much is that their top players are playing in the NH professional leagues, with better quality coaching and players. It gives them the confidence to match up. As far as the SH is concerned otherthan Hernandez moving to Natal I don’t know of any other player playing in the SH. Obviously there is a closed shop in NZ and OZ but if more played in the SH then standards overall would improve. It is more than the occasional test match it needs more committment across the board to bring their players on.

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pothale said | July 4th 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment

Good idea. Bashing the Argies occasionally would be a more attractive prospect than bashing the WALBOKABS – there’d be a bit of bite in the game. Not literally, of course.

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Alan Nicolea said | July 4th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment

Of course. Agree with you True Tah.

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Working Class Rugger said | July 5th 2009 @ 2:08am | Report comment

pothale

And they might win their first series in what 16 years and four tours if the tour Argentina in 2013.

TT

I think it’s a great idea. Realistically it could happen in 2017. By then Argentine professionals will be far greater than today. Hopefully they will have the on south american league as Ian alluded to in one of his previous Argentina threads. Next year Argentina are expected to top 100,000 registered players for the first time with more than 50% of that total being juniors. bodes well for Argentina’s future.

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pothale said | July 5th 2009 @ 2:20am | Report comment

WC Rugger – Exactly – that’s my point.

By the way, would Australian fans be happy to give up the Lions tour of Oz in 2013, so that the Lions could tour Argentina instead, assuming that Argentina were prepared for it?

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Working Class Rugger said | July 5th 2009 @ 1:10pm | Report comment

Hmmm… Probably not. I personally don’t think Argentina would be ready until 2017 but the touring schedule really isn’t up to me, the B&I Lions will go where they choose.

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Bay35Pablo said | July 8th 2009 @ 9:59pm | Report comment

Pothale, when’s the last time you saw any rugby administrator organise something on 4 years notice? That’s less than 1200 lunch meetings! You’ll be lucky to get it organised this century!!!

And even if they could, NO! Only fair the current cycle be completed. Oz 2013, NZ 2017, SAF 2021, Arg 2025.

Bloody good idea, assuming all the logistics can be worked out.

Given the congested NH calendar, perhaps we could just can the Heineken Cup that year to make room?

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Steffy said | July 8th 2009 @ 10:03pm | Report comment

How much money would it make?

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