If SA joins the 6-Nations, forget about Rugby Union as an international concern.

I mean it seriously: there’s no chance of growing the sport, and frankly, TPTB wouldn’t give a damn.

Just save any and all World Rugby funds, instead of pretending to care about turning Rugby Union into a global sport.

Until and when the Springboks are formally dethroned, they are the best team in World Rugby (*).

Surely last year’s B & I Lions series showed that.

(*) Not a Springbok fan.

I eagerly wait to see the talismanic Mr. Matera play for the Crusaders, as I think it’ll be a marriage made in heaven.

Pity that it seems like it’ll only be a one season engagement.

Maybe, but I would think that Argentinean players in Europe will be much better prepared for the grind of the European season, by virtue of having lived through a previous season.

(It’s much easier to pace yourself if you’ve already done something before).

Ledesma’s tenure had ups and downs.

His 2018 was pretty good, since the Pumas won 2 RCh Tests that year (notwithstanding the shocking second half collapse of the second Test against Australia that year).

His 2019 was terrible, though that was partially due to the Jaguars competing in the SR final against the Crusaders (pretty much the same side flew from Argentina to NZ to play the Crusaders and then flew back to play the ABs, then flew to Australia to play the Wallabies to come back home to play the Springboks, all within 5 weeks) and UAR’s stated preference for SR based players over players in Europe (Ledesma didn’t help himself much in some of the decisions he made in re: European players, or in the things he said, but the fact remains that he was hamstrung by a policy he didn’t create).

2020 was obviously an annus horribilis, and the Pumas managed a much better campaign than anybody could have expected (with a 1-1-2 record in the Tri-Nations Cup). But the seeds for the collapse in 2021 were evident, in the lack of attacking nous from the Pumas (just 15 months earlier, pretty much the same group of players had famously shown an attacking flair that was a joy, while playing for the Jags).

2021 had a half-way decent July window (a series win against Lionless Wales side), but some alarms were already blaring (very weak win against Romania). The Rch was a mess, both the two Test against the Boks (were the Pumas were outmuscled and outplayed by a Bok side which was resting some of its starters after the Lions series) and the 4 Tests in Oceania.

The November window could have been a bright light, if the Pumas had managed to beat France (they were in that Test until the final minutes), but they were ridiculed by Ireland in the last Test of the window. At that point, the writing was on the wall.

Ledesma did himself no favors during the RCh and November windows by insisting on playing Santiago Carreras as Fly Half (Mr. Carreras has historically been a Wing or a Full Back).

***

One thing that was obvious during 2021 was that even some of the most outstanding Pumas players (Matera, Kremer, Isa) were not playing up to their usual level. That surely is a consequence of the Flying Dutchman life they had to live during that year (no Tests at home, long bubble periods in South Africa and Australia), but I also think it was a consequence of Pumas players not feeling comfortable in their new surroundings with their European clubs.

Results for 2022 seem promising, in that a number of players who were lackluster in 2021 seem to having good seasons, so I think the new Pumas HC will reap the benefit of his charges being more at ease this season.

Plus the Pumas are scheduled to play 6 Tests in Argentina during 2022. Being home has to help.

I have no idea, if only because I don’t know whether he would have to sue in South Africa (Erasmus was clearly in South Africa when the video was made) or whether he could sue in other jurisdictions.

And an actual court of law would not make a statement like the panel did on section 139 (about how the mere suggestion that a referee is making inaccurate decisions to the benefit of one side is an attack on the official’s integrity), to give you an example.

I’m a Civil Law attorney (not a Common Law one), so I thread carefully in these matters. However, I read the ruling, and I am not satisfied.

There are points which the panel clearly proved (the explanations on “caused to publish” in sections 48-56 were very convincing, though I would have drafted some of those sections slightly differently) and there was some really good writing in certain parts (section 58 is outstanding).

But the way they handled the issue of whether Siya Kolisi was disrespected (sections 61, 111, 151 and 152) was utterly disgraceful and calls into question the way these men think. In essence, it is not Siya Kolisi who determines whether he was disrespected (page 77 of the decision quotes Kolisi stating that he did not feel respected in the way Mr. Berry treated him during the first BIL – Boks Test). It is a third-party panel, looking at the matter ex post facto.

Ultimately, this was not a good decision. It is, however, a Solomonic decision.

Depending on how quickly the appeals are rejected (as they almost certainly will be, for reasons explained by the Author), this matter will be over and done by the end of the year.

Nobes,

You may have seen this already, but Moroni will be out 3-4 weeks due to a muscle tear.

Nicolás Sánchez is not the Pumas’ Captain. He is the Pumas’ fly-half.

The Pumas’ Captain is Hooker Julián Montoya.

Of course it all starts with Argentinean Club Rugby.

I am certainly not discounting the value of that, but the fact that the Jaguars existed, that the Grondona’s and Chocobares’ of the world could practice (and play eventually) in a professional setting, together with and against super elite players was a tremendous boost to all involved.

If I may, and in line with some of what Carlos is writing, I think the Jaguars were an absolute success until they were killed off by the pandemic.

And mid-to-long term, they could have been very good for the Pumas, in the sense that they were churning out so much young talent that there was going to be an inevitable need to call-up players from Europe (the Materas and Lavaninis of the world, to name two who left the Jags after the 2019 SR season).

My point is that seeing a Grondona or a Chocobares appear out of nowhere during last year’s RCh (and I was a Jag fan, so it’s not like I wasn’t watching their games to see new players coming up), confirms that there was a ton of talent bubbling up.

The Pumas will benefit from this pre-pandemic development program for a couple more years. Once that’s over and done, we’ll see (it’s a little bit discouraging that the more interesting SLAR players have mostly ended up in Italy or the French D2).

I invite you to see the play and see where the B & I Lions were on the pitch for half of those 23 seconds.

This statement is demonstrably false, as some of the video compares plays for both sides.

I’ll give you an example: the sequence showing the Boks getting only 8 seconds of advantage while the Lions got 23 seconds of advantage.

And obviously, Rassie is not about to plead the Lions’ case. But the officiating was clearly, demonstrably inconsistent (perhaps you believe that officiating can only be inconsistent if it’s inconsistent for both sides. That’s not true, though, as officiating for one side can also be inconsistent from similar play to similary play).

Rassie can be right (i.e., the video is absolutely devastating).

And he can only have blown up unwritten norms of Rugby Union, opening up doors which perhaps should have never been open.

Both things can be right.

As to legal terminology, if you find a term for this scarecrow concept you’ve come up with, be my guest. Somehow I doubt you will.

I think your reply is so ridiculous that it made me roll on the floor laughing my as* off, fella.

I did not watch the Test (not available in my home country), so I had no opinion coming into the Erasmus video. Frankly, the things he’s pointed out are absolutely egregious.

To penalize Erasmus for demonstrating that the refereeing was absurdly inconsistent reminds me of the legal term of Cui Bono. So yeah, fella, keep on believing that this is all about gutlessness.

And for the record, I have absolutely no links of any kind with South Africa, with Africa in general (I have never been to Africa, I have never been close to Africa), with the Springboks or with Rassie Erasmus.

Hell, I don’t even like the shade of green that the Springboks use.

ROTFLMAO.

If they punish Erasmus after this video, then they will have proven his point: that TPTB had an agenda vis-a-vis this Lions tour and that the fix was in.

Lovely story.

Still viable, though.

There’s only so many elite Rugby Union sides in the world, so there’s only so many permutations you can aim for.

Japan may eventually be good enough to beat Oz (and maybe even NZ) regularly, but its not exactly close to you guys. And I really don’t see any up and coming side in the world that could possibly enter into the Tier 1 ranks (or even the top-tier 2 sides).

We’ll see if Australia benefits or doesn’t benefit from the current set-up.

And SR was viable for over 20 years, and was only taken down by the pandemic. Yes, I know some fans in Australia griped constantly about it, but it was very much a one-country view.

I disagree 1,000% with your point. 5 franchises is fine locally, but it’s at least two franchises too many to play with the big boys (i.e., NZ or SA).

In re: “the Jaguars were the Pumas minus a few players in 2019”, they had already graduated a ton of players after the 2019 RWC (Matera, Moyano, Lavanini, etc) and were going to be doing the same every year, since the pipeline of talent coming up the ranks in Argentinean Rugby was (and still is) extremely promising.

If the pandemic had hit in 2028, 2030 (and not 2020), I’m pretty sure Argentina would have had at least two SR sides (maybe even 3).

No disrespect, but pre-Pandemic, it was clear that Australia could not support 5 SR franchises (which is why the Force had been culled), and perhaps not even 4.

Now you guys are fielding 5 franchises AGAIN and playing against the best group of franchises in all of SANZAAR (with the sole exception of the much-lamented Jaguars). What, exactly, did you think was going to happen?

Mind you, I think it’s fine for SR Australia to have 5 franchises (you get an extra franchise to develop talent locally), but once you turn around and are playing the Kiwis, you get back to the same quandary that meant one Aussie side had to go.

The ABs are a much, much deeper side than the Pumas, and they’d had a number of structural advantages last year (such as being able to actually train and play during the pandemic).

If you saw the Pumas Tri-Nations Matches, it was clear that the Pumas were just running on fumes during the 2nd test against the ABs (they even had to rotate some of their star players for that Test).

To me, and equally impressive thing is that the Pumas were able to come back from that defeat, plus losing two all-world players like Matera and Petti prior to the final Test (due to the Twitter scandal that involved them both) to tie with the Wallabies for a second time in the final match of the Tri-Nations (a Test the Pumas should have won, as they had a 15-14 player advantage with about 25 minutes go into the 2nd half).

The Pumas will play the sans-Lions Welsh on July 10th and 17th in Wales, and I think I read they have another Test with a Tier 2 nation.

Basically tune-ups.