Don’t know that this is on the Boks radar, but they host the Pumas (in the Republic) twice in the weeks immediately after the 3rd Test against the B & I Lions.

If there’s one potential pitfall series for the Boks, is facing the fairly rested Pumas right after all of the exertion against the B & I Lions (we saw what the Pumas can do in last year’s Tri Nations Championship). That first Test in particular may be a doozie, what with Bok starters presumably quite exhausted from the Lions series.

The Force were greatly aided by their Argentinean contingent.

I would hope that next year they can bring in some additional former Jags (or new Argentinean players), as it helps younger Western Force players (e.g., having a World Class scrum like Tomás Cubelli on your side has to be wonderful for young WF backs) and it gives an outlet to Argentinean players who were left up the creek without a paddle when the pandemic slayed the old SR and the Jags.

I agree with some of TE’s opinions about SR, but I don’t agree with most of his appraisal of South American Rugby.

The difference between Argentina’s Rugby level and that of the rest of South America is abysmal, with only Uruguay even remotely in the same ballpark. If SLAR were being developed in the abstract, Argentina would have at least 3, perhaps 4 sides, to level things out.

The thing is, Argentina cannot financially support 3 or 4 sides, which is why SLAR (supported economically by World Rugby) only has one side.

From a market standpoint, TV rights for South America are much more valuable than only for Argentina (plus Uruguay’s 3.4 MM citizens), so SLAR is a package deal: Ceibos/Jaguares XV will absolutely dominate the competition in the short term, but the idea is to foster Rugby Union in the continent so that the numbers make sense to all.

Will it work? I have no idea. It depends on whether Argentina can actually pay for a 2nd franchise (Ceibos/Jaguares XV are just too good for SLAR), so that talent becomes diluted enough for the thing to make sense from a competitive standpoint.

And it also depends on whether ESPN and World Rugby are willing to keep on ponying up, neither of which is guaranteed in the post-COVID world.

We’ll see how it plays out, but let’s be frank about one thing: the biggest losers of the disappearance of the old SR format were the Jags, by far (ultimately, I think Oz and Kiwi sides will miss out on playing the Jags, since their 2019 iteration was formidable enough to lift all boats that they encountered).

Absolute Win-Win.

Matera wins, because he will have a sabbatical with the Crusaders, where he will surely be able to play Rugby at a level that he has only dreamed of (and I’m not dissing the 2019 Jags, who were a sight to behold).

The Crusaders win, because they will have a World Class player on their roster, which will only help improve everybody else on their side.

The Pumas will benefit, because Matera should be that much better AND he has cracked the door to Argentinean players in NZ (Santiago Chocobares should have been with the Blues this season, but the pandemic precluded that).

The ABs benefit, because non-Crusader players will have faced a magnificent player, thus increasing their competitive level.

The Force’s decision to hire the Argentine foursome (plus Kearney, I suppose though he hasn’t played much) was crucial, as it has fostered an increase in the playing level of the whole side.

One would hope that the Force’s young players can continue developing in future years, when they no longer have so many foreign players on their side.

I’m not Argentinean, but I am Latin American (Panamanian), from a country that actually has a substantial black population (not the case for Argentina).

Different Latin American countries have different ways to deal with racial issues. Matera’s words were wrong, but not in the way the English speaking media described the issue (Negros, in the way he was using it, was not about African-Argentineans or any such. It was a mix of a racial and class slur, but on the racial front, it was more geared to people of indigenous or mestizo background than black).

I understand that Matera, Petti & Socino had to pay a price. They did write outrageous, racist, insensitive things, but at a minimum, it would behoove English writers to try understand the context of the offenses, since they happened in Spanish, within an Argentinean context and milieu, over 8 years ago.

P.S. 1.: I don’t follow soccer, but I see that a Man U Uruguayan player surnamed Cavani is being raked through the coals for using “Negro” on social media, but in a context that CLEARLY was a term of endearment.

Shame on Man U for being insensitive and understand that in the context that Cavani made his comment, it was absolutely not a slur.

P.S. 2: I suggest you guys look up the canonnical Salsa song “El Negro Bembón”. It’s a classic in Latin America, and it makes no sense whatsoever in English, both culturally and due to present sensibilities.

But within the Spanish speaking Caribbean, and more broadly, Latin America, NOBODY takes offense at it.

Cultural sensitivity implies respecting other cultures and the way they police their own.

P.S. 3: One of the all-time best pitchers in Baseball is named Pedro Martínez.

Martínez is Dominican, and he got into a HUGE brouhaha in the U.S. some years ago because of his attendance to cock fighting events in the Dominican. Martínez even ended up apologizing, so as to get the issue out of the way.

However, cockfighting remains a huge cultural institution in the Dominican. And it’s not going away because some Americans find it offensive (for the record, there is cock fighting here in Panama, but I do not support or patronize it in any way, though I do acknowledge that it is a cultural reality).

Again, cultural sensibility implies respecting other cultures, even if you dislike the way those cultures operate.

I have reservations about including Whitelock if in order to do that, you have to exclude one of the 6 Tests he played in.
I also don’t think one can seriously include Petti. I absolutely love Guido Petti, and he did get in a little bit more playing time than most Argentinean players (since he moved to France after the SR season got cancelled and is now playing in Bourdeaux), but he only played 3 out of 4 Tests (due to non-sporting reasons, but still).

Not even a mention of Marcos Kremer, who was an absolute wall during the Tri-Nations?

Come on….

Thing is, when the Pumas are playing at their best, they often times resemble the Boks (not so much in physical size, but certainly in “in-your-face” intensity, like what they displayed against the ABs a month ago).
But Kremer is actually a hybrid, in that he plays w/ the usual intensity of a Puma (all the “crying-at-the-anthem” stuff) but has the physical nous and almost the attitude of a grizzled Bok veteran.
He’s a very interesting player, and one would hope he’s healthy and can dominate during the upcoming decade.

If I may make a comment about Kremer, he is the Bokkiest Puma I’ve ever seen.

My point is that Kremer very much looks like a Springbok, and if he were playing for the Republic, he’d be much, much better known that he already is.

I’ve read assorted stories, up to and including Marinos mentioning that one-site RCh’s are not off the table.

Still, I doubt that it’ll happen in 2021, because of a number of TV and commercial issues that you raise. But in 2022, and even more so, 2023 (RWC year), it seems like a wonderful option.

I really, really enjoyed the Tri-Nations Cup.

I don’t know if we’ll ever see this format again (everybody in one country, with no travel), but it has its definitive benefits.

But the Quesada Jaguars were an offensive juggernaut (think of the drubbing of the Brumbies in Bs. As. in the 2019 SR SemiFinals, their anhiliation of the Sharks in Durban in 2019, to give two examples from that year).

And the 2018 Ledesma Pumas knew how to score a try or three…..

These guys haven’t forgotten how to run, how to do a maul (the Pumas and the Jags both had great Mauls, and other than one play against the Wallabies this Saturday, their Maul didn’t really amount to much), how to score.

So I have to believe it’s a coaching thing.

I’m old enough to remember Buddy Ryan’s SCARY defense.

However, the scariest game that I remember involving the Bears happened the year before, when they destroyed the Raiders in Soldiers Field (IIRC, two Raiders QBacks were injured, as well as the Bears’ own Jim Harbaugh).

It’s been widely reported that the Pumas had an absolutely daunting travel/quarantine/training period.

That being the case, I strongly suspect that Ledesma, Cheika, et. al. did not have a chance to work on the Offensive side of the game, as they only had so many hours to work with.

Anybody who saw the Jaguars in 2018/2019 and even the Pumas themselves in that time period, knows that they have tremendous attacking chops…. One would hope that they can harness both sides of their game for 2021.

This article almost screams to have a parallel article about how amazing the Pumas’ defense was during 7 out of 8 halves of the Tri-Nations Cup. It already has most of the videos…. 😂

Really good article.

Having said that , it’s not like the Pumas players are averse to attacking. In fact, almost all of them proved their mettle as attackers while playing for the Jaguars (two of the Pumas were never Jaguars: Juan Imhoff and Francisco Gómez-Kodela), so that leads me to believe that the Pumas coaching staff concentrated mostly on defense (there are only so many hours in a day).

Still, as one can see in that gorgeous Bautista Delguy try from Saturday, there’s some genuine attacking talent on the Pumas (I would have loved to have seen Ramiro Moyano or Santiago Cordero cutting lose, but unfortunately, the didn’t).

Nobes,

I enjoyed this Tri-Nations Cup a lot, too (even though I had to wake up at unGODly hours to watch it). What the Pumas achieved, in very difficult circumstances up to the last Test, speaks very highly of the group.

Two things: 1. For 2023 RWC purposes, the Pumas remind me of the famous line by Rorschach in the Watchmen Maxi-Series of the 1980s: “None of you understand. [We’re] not locked up in here with you. You’re locked up here with [US]!”

2. Even though the 2020 Pumas were all about the defense, almost of these very players showed at a Jaguars level that they can be very, very good Offensive players. Don’t really know why that wasn’t exploited by Ledesma, Cheika and company, but I’m sure it will be in 2021 and so on.

If (big IF) the Pumas continue displaying the very stingy defense they displayed in 7 out of 8 halves of the 2020 Tri-Nations AND they unleash their offensive potential… .ho boy, you would have another Rugby Union super power.

It’s an utter shame that the Pumas were caught in the TwitterGate scandal, because they are clearly not going to be playing at their best.

One would hope it’s a competitive Test, and if nothing else, it seems that 3 young players will be getting their first Caps for the Pumas (Hooker José Luis González, Flanker Francisco Gorrisen and Fly Half Domingo Miotti). Lucas Paulos will be getting his second Cap (he debuted against the ABs).

I’m not Argentinean, but I’ve had to ask a lot to understand what the heck it is that they are saying in the Argentinean Rugby forums that I frequent.

Don’t really know the history of this term, but I’ve also seen the term “cabezas negras” or “cabecitas negras” (which would translate as black heads) used. From what I’ve understood (and what has been explained to me), it’s pretty much the same idea: the great unwashed, the poor, especially the rural and indigineous (or mestizo) poor.

“Negro” can also be used in that way in my part of Latin America (Panama).

Prime-Moyano was an absolute delight.

From what I’ve followed of his Toulon sojourn, I don’t think he’s playing at that level, but one would hope that he breaks out against the ABs.

All things being equal, it’s still pretty unlikely that the Pumas will beat the ABs.

Having said that, if the Pumas were displaying the same side as their win 2 weeks ago, with one week’s bye in the middle, I could have seen the Pumas pull it off.

However, due to the back-to-back-to-back-to-back demands of the Tri-Nations, the Pumas are being forced into massively changing their side from last week’s Test against Australia. I like a bunch of the players they will be featuring (Facundo Isa, for example, is a better option than Santiago Bruni and I think Emiliano Boffelli is also better than Santiago Carreras), but it’s hard for me to believe that the Pumas will be able to pull off such a massive switch.

Still, one has to hope that the Pumas make game out of it. And if they make a game out of it, well, you never know what can happen.

The Wallabies would be going into that final Test NEEDING to achieve a bonus point win.
The Pumas, in this far-fetched hypo, would only need a defensive bonus point to win the Tri-Nations (I know, I know – conceivably the Wallabies COULD achieve a bonus point win while the Pumas COULD also conceivably achieve a defensive bonus point. But I’m being realistic here, and that’s just piling on unlikely events on top of unlikely events).
In any case, I definitely think the ABs will win their upcoming Test against the Pumas, so it’s all a bit of a moot point (though I would not put it past the Pumas to achieve a defensive bonus point, which would turn the final Test against Australia into a really interesting proposition for both Pumas and Wallabies).

Yet.

They may well improve.