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For Argentina, it has been very difficult to compete a top level in a professional competition coming from a country where rugby is totally amateur.
Few years back, The Pumas were a group of our best players scattered all over Europe, but the side was subjective and picked in the eyes of the coach, at that moment.
They usually got together the previous week of a Test match with very little time to put together basic maneuvers, thus the rugby we expressed on the field was basically guts and some individualities that gave us a few results.
The Rugby World Cup of 2007 provided an important lesson; the team of individuals had the chance to be together for a month and a half and the result was a third place in the competition. After that, the decision to compete seriously at a professional level had to be made.
We had to create a way to be able to keep players together and school them in some way that all the players understand what to do on the field.
The UAR (Argentina Rugby Union) is the blend of 25 unions that represents the clubs in the entire country, and URBA is the most powerful union that represents around 30 per cent of the players and runs the most important tournament in the country.
URBA has been a fierce defender of amateur rugby and probably responsible for the delay, among other things, from having a local professional league.
Facing this situation, in 2009 the officials from UAR decided the formation of the PLADAR (Plan for High Performance will be a fair translation).
They started with six centers and now they have 14 in different parts of the country.
All of the 25 unions send their young guns to these centers where they train five days a week during the off season and during the season they blend the training with their individual clubs.
Today they have 960 players, and from this program the M18, M20, Sevens, Jaguars(Pumas C), Pampas (Pumas B), and Pumas are fed with players which are trained under the same platform and style. The program goes from basic skills, fitness, to psychology.
The goal is to have 1500 players in the system for 2015 and to be the main provider of players for the Super Rugby franchise in 2016 and Pumas.
The system allows the team to substitute one player for another without having to explain from scratch what he has to do on the field.
While taking the steps to become a Puma the only thing you are doing is increasing the depth from one level to the next.
For example, if you have five possibilities of players in the line at Jaguar level, you will have 12 at Pampas. There more than a 100 people, coaches, physical trainers, psychologists, among others involved in the program.
The results can be seen already, the last game the Pumas faced the Wallabies 19 of the 23 players on the team came from the system, Hernandez, Ayerza, Agulla, and Bosch were the exemption.
This approach has already yielded results. Ortega Desio, for example, had never played international before and he jumped on the field and felt very comfortable because he knew what to do in every situation.
There are many people and institutions around the world that are facilitating in this process, just to mention a few: The IRB, SANZAR, Western Province, Brumbies, Sir Graham Henry, are the ones that come to mind immediately.
It is to bad that all this effort from many people is not recognised because the most important thing from our first victory in The Rugby Championship is the famous laser issue.
It came from someone who does not have the same values than the rest of the rugby family in Argentina and does not represents us.
The UAR must take some steps so this kind of behaviour does not happen again.
Rugby fans and players from around the world deserve much better than this, so on behalf of my country I apologise.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.