Is rugby in Argentina following the right path?

Given the giants steps that Argentina has taken in the last ten years in trying to become a power nation in rugby, I imagine it has not been easy for the foreign casual rugby supporter to understand the Argentine process.

Many battles have been fought between the advocates of amateur rugby versus the ones that wish to keep up with other nations or at least play catch up.

While the advocates of professionalism took the advantage of some good results to push harder, when results are weak their actions become a target for heavy criticism.

Late results are questioning the chosen path. The increasing discontent with the current situation must get the proper attention from the management of the Argentina Rugby Union (UAR) so they can start making the necessary changes before it is too late.

Most people have welcomed the inclusion of Los Pumas in the Rugby Championship and later on the addition of the franchise (Jaguares) in Super Rugby, however the forms and demands to meet these challenges are beginning to crack.

In order to have a competitive team in Super Rugby and with the excuse of the development of new players that have to be exposed to an international competition, the restriction to have players that exclusively play in Super Rugby, in order to become a member of the national team has created a loophole in the original plan.

Jaguares has still not proved to be a competitive team in Super Rugby especially when you consider that most of the players that set foot on the field are in Los Pumas.

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There are a few reasons for this that not many people understand unless you are familiar with what has been going on for some time.

One of the main causes is the lack of flexibility by the UAR to hire a professional coaching staff with experience in Super Rugby.

Last year, from the very beginning, it was easy to see that Raul Perez’s (Aspirina) strategies were very naive or did not seem quite right.

Never understanding or paying attention to the strengths and weaknesses of the adversaries, and putting the team under much stress while trying to perform multiple phases and offloads, that ended up more often in the hands of the opponents than in their team, sadly meant trying to play New Zeland style without the talent.

All this was done based on the undisputed and well-deserved fourth place Los Pumas got in the RWC 2015.

However, not paying attention that in that RWC Argentina had lost with the other three teams from the SH and, it only had a positive score against Ireland that arrived to the game without many of their starters due to injuries and suspensions, turned out to be a high price to pay.

Afterwards, Los Pumas won games that could not lose against Georgia, Tonga, and Namibia – these are a must win at any time.

The inclusion in Super Rugby of the Jaguares meant that the same players were also to play in the Rugby Championship, both in June and November windows, consequently taxing heavily the players mentally and physically.

Not to mention that in 2016, they gave away their home advantage against Australia, and decided to make a long trip to London and play the game there.

Plus, in the window of November before the games started, they went all the way to Japan for the second time in that year to play and lose a friendly match against that nation.

As a result of all this, they fell down to the ninth place in the World Ranking after losing all the games of the window in 2016. Because of this they are now in the so call “death pool” for the RWC 2019 in Japan.

The results in Super Rugby 2017 raise questions that the head coach of Los Pumas, Daniel Hourcade (he also supervises Jaguares) might find difficult to find a suitable answer in the next June window.

Los Pumas have to face Georgia and England. On paper Georgia seems to be an easy win, but a second string England can beat this Pumas/Jaguares side.

Here is time to remind you that last year Los Pumas lost to a second string France 27-0 in this same window at home.

The question that nobody from UAR has dared to answer yet why there are two head coaches for basically the same team?

Why UAR, that has made such an effort to be included in international competitions, did not go out and hire an experienced foreign coach to run this fresh and new pro rugby program?

Why was the purpose of G Peters staying with UAR and then leaving? This left a big question mark on what he did while he was here.

Those questions have never been answered. The reason seems to be that those who are in control of the monopoly of the press and, those who run the only screen where rugby is showed in Argentina never want to ask.

Why? Because it is the same press that never questions the staff and, it is always ready to defend the poor performances with the excuse of the learning experience in the long run.

Why? It may be because they run the show together along with UAR.

Someone has to ask why if the Jaguares is the platform for the Pumas with the objective on RWC 2019 in Japan, Juan Marin Hernandez and some others players that will get there way past their age are still playing for Jaguares?

Juan Martin Hernandez has been and still is my hero but in my opinion, it has come the time to thank him and ask him to leave his place.

He is using the spot and resources that another player with future may make a better use of it. He must stay with the group and help to develop some great young players instead of blocking their way.

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If it is true that they do not care about how they do in Super Rugby and just uses it to create more depth? Why not give some youngsters the chance to acquire the experience? Do Juan Martin Hernandez, Leguizamon, Tuculet, Nicolas Sanchez, for instance need more experience?

I might be wrong but for me the answer is very obvious and has to do with economics.

In order to retain some of the players from going to play for the power rich teams in Europe they made them three years contracts with a good salary and also spare them with a big chunk of money coming from sponsors.

Those are the same six or seven faces you see all the time in the ads.

The sponsors want those faces on the field, and that is the reason that all sponsors must go to UAR before endorsing a player. So UAR can distribute the funds as it pleases.

Players like Facundo Isa did not benefit from such “program” so he decided to leave.

There are some others that are not happy with the situation and are waiting for a good offer to come. The incentive of not being able to play for The Pumas is not enough any longer.

All of the above resulted in a very poor performance by Pumas/Jaguares.

While some players are in the comfort zone where their places in the Pumas is not challenged some others do not feel that they can take over their places performing on the field.

After understanding this, it is much easy to see why a coach with a good reputation does not want to take over. A coach with character and reputation will not let anybody stand in the way of the players he picks to take on the field.

A rather disappointed fan made the following comment in the local newspaper expressing his discontent:

“If you lose your own lines and not attempt to challenge the ones of your opponents,
if you kick when you are supposed to keep the pill and you keep it when you have to kick,
If you ask for posts when you have to go to touch or the other way around,
If you cannot go over the 10 meter line every time you have a start,
If you make too many penalties,
If you get yellow cards in every games,
If you lose or get penalized in 80 per cent of the scrums,
If you make 30 handling errors in a dry pitch,
If you miss more than 25 per cent of the tackles in every game…”

How come a nation that has been known for the strength in the scrum can be last in the stats in Super Rugby?

If with all these ifs you do not wish to change your coaching staff, that clearly has not being able to make good players do the ABC of rugby in the past two years- you should not expect to win.

Argentina has been given a unique opportunity that was generated by the mastermind of Agustin Pichot, I think it is time for him to come back, clean the house, and address this issue before all what has been gained goes to hell.

I know I am not going to be liked by the people running the show in Argentina. They are used not be challenged by anyone’s opinion, but I sure hope to get their attention, and at least make them think.

I have defended this program since the beginning and there is plenty of evidence that backs me up here in The Roar.

I wish not be misunderstood, I am just a very concerned fan and these lines are nothing but my small contribution to help out my nation in the sport I love.