On Saturday in Rosario, Argentina’s rugby team, the Pumas concluded their first ever season competing in the rarefied heights of the Rugby Championship against the top three sides in the world with a narrow 25-19 loss to Australia.

Despite the defeat, which consigned them to the bottom of the table with four points, the Pumas have earned plaudits from their opponents and the world press alike for the quality of their play and the competitive spirit of their rugby over the two months of the tournament, vindicating those like former captain and now administrator, Agustín Pichot who had been lobbying for years for Argentina’s inclusion in the world’s toughest competition.

After the game Pumas’ coach, Santiago Phelan summed up his feelings on his side’s performances, saying: “It is difficult to take stock in the heat of the moment, but we lived an intense experience.” He added: “We have no shortage of things to improve upon, but it is extremely positive to have played on an equal footing with the best teams in the world. The team will get better, but there remains much to work on.”

Aside from the home match against world champions New Zealand in which they shipped 54 points, at no point in the competition were the Argentines outclassed. Indeed, they were heartbreakingly close to winning two of their matches, at home to South Africa in which they gained a historic draw, and away to Australia when they fell to a defeat by just two points after leading late on in both matches.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the competition for the Pumas was the successful integration of a new breed of home based players such as Leonardo Senatore, Martín Landajo, and Tomás Leonardi, proof positive that the High Performance Development Programme, which has seen promising young players perform in South Africa’s Vodacom Cup, is starting to bear fruit.

As Senatore says: “In this tournament we learned day by day, week after week, aside from the freak result against New Zealand, growing all the time. We could make mistakes, but we tried hard to correct them and grew both on and off the pitch, leaving with an incredible experience and I hope that each year Argentine rugby grows a little more.”

Argentina began their inaugural Rugby Championship adventure in the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town’s Newlands stadium against South Africa. Able to welcome back their 2007 World Cup hero, Juan Martín Hernández at fly half after five injury-ravaged years, Argentina set about their task with relish, but they were always on the back foot as the Springboks took control of the game through tries from Zane Kirchner, Marcell Coetzee and Bryan Habana. Nevertheless the Pumas defended manfully to keep the score down to 27-6 and deny their opponents a bonus point.

For their first home game of the tournament in Mendoza’s Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, the Pumas recorded an historic first ever draw against South Africa having lost the previous 14 encounters against the Springboks. Santiago Fernández’ first half try helped Argentina to a deserved 13-3 lead at the interval, but in the second half Marcelo Bosch saw his kick charged down by François Steyn, who ran through to score for the South Africans who ended up levelling the game at 16-16.

The Pumas’ travels then took them to the ‘Windy City’ of Wellington for the first part of their Australasian double-header against New Zealand’s all-conquering All Blacks. Argentina showed that that they did not fear their illustrious opponents, having the temerity to lead until the 24th minute after Rodrigo Roncero’s try cancelled out Aron Cruden’s early penalty. Tries from Julian Savea and Cory Jane restored All Black superiority, but a mighty defensive performance restricted New Zealand to a very creditable 21-5 scoreline.

Buoyed by their continued progress, the Pumas nearly caused the shock of the tournament when they faced Australia at Skilled Park on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Two tries in two minutes early in the second half from Tomás Leonardi and Julio Farías Cabello saw Argentina race into a 13 point lead which they held until just ten minutes from the end before Pat McCabe and Digby Ioane scored late tries for the Wallabies to win 23-19 and break Argentine hearts.

In La Plata, Argentina welcomed the All Blacks as football was temporarily relegated from the back pages of the newspapers and rugby fever took hold. The febrile atmosphere in the stadium became even more delirious as a Martín Landajo try gave the Pumas the lead after eight minutes. It was not to last long as Ma’a Nonu started an New Zeland try-fest, to be followed by a hat-trick from Cory Jane, two from Julian Savea and a try from Aaron Smith as the All Blacks simply overwhelmed Argentina’s vaunted defence and power to a 15th consecutive test match win 54-15, Gonzalo Camacho’s try in the 47th minute doing little to put but the thinnest respectability on the scoreline for the Pumas.

Having come so close to causing an upset against the Wallabies on the Gold Coast, the Pumas fancied their chances of gaining their first Championship win in the return leg at Rosario’s imposing Gigante de Arroyito stadium, in front of a passionate partisan crowd. Despite veteran front row forward Rodrigo Roncero making an emotional international farewell in front of his home supporters, the fairy tale result failed to materialise as 20 points from the boot of Mike Harris and a second half Digby Ioane try earned the Australians a hard-fought 25-19 victory.

The next challenge for Phelan’s battle-hardened men is a European tour in November when they take on Six Nations champions Wales, France and Italy as they seek to maintain their top eight world ranking, important for securing their place among the second seeds when the pool draw for the 2015 World Cup is made on 3 December.

After five years of lobbying, Argentina finally made their bow in rugby’s premier annual international tournament on Saturday when they took on South Africa in the newly expanded Rugby Championship.

Whilst no-one was expecting an Argentine win on a cold afternoon in Cape Town, hopes were high that the Pumas could show themselves to be competitive in such exalted company. And so it proved as they put up a creditable performance in holding the Springboks to a modest 27-6 victory in front of 38,843 at Newlands.

It was South Africa who drew first blood with an early penalty from Morné Steyn, but the Pumas equalised when Juan Martín Hernández slotted home a penalty on 14 minutes when Zane Kirchner was penalised for holding onto the ball in the tackle after Hernández’ clever kick towards the South African 22.

Parity was short-lived as the Springboks scored the opening try of the game four minutes later as Kirchner atoned for his earlier error by crossing over after Argentina had conceded a five-metre scrum and free-kick, with Steyn adding the extra two points from the conversion.

Steyn added a further penalty in the 24th minute, to give South Africa a 13-3 lead, as repeated Argentine infringements around the breakdown continually handed their hosts the advantage, with referee Steve Evans threatening to send the next offender to the sin bin.

Three minutes later the Springboks further extended their lead after Marcell Coetzee peeled off the back of a rolling maul to score a try in the right-hand corner which was converted once more by Steyn to put the home side 20-3 ahead.

Within two minutes Hernández reduced the arrears after the Springboks were penalised for offside, and with no further scoring the sides went into the half-time break with the score at 20-6.

After a stern lecture from coach, Santiago Phelan, the Pumas came out for the second half like men possessed, attacking the South Africans from the off. In the opening six minutes their pressure resulted in the Springboks conceding three penalties, and an opportunity to narrow the deficit.

Unfortunately for Argentina the chance was spurned as first Marcelo Bosch from 40 metres out, and then Hernández with two more eminently kickable penalties failed to bisect the posts with their kicks.

South Africa made the most of their reprieve to score a third try in the 56th minute when Bryan Habana collected Steyn’s perfectly flighted cross-field kick to score his 41st international try.

The rest of the match became an attritional stalemate as the Argentine defence, brilliantly marshalled by captain, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe successfully kept the Springboks at bay as they pressed for a fourth try which would have earned them a crucial bonus point.

Meanwhile, the South African rear-guard was equally effective as the Pumas were frustrated in their attempts to set free their pacy back-line of Horacio Agulla, Bosch, Gonzalo Camacho and Lucas González Amorosino.

In the final analysis the final score of 27-6 represented a promising debut in the Rugby Championship, as Argentina were by no means disgraced and showed that they could compete with the best in the world. In order to now progress Santiago Phelan and his men must work on cutting out the penalty infringements at the breakdown and capitalising on scoring opportunities when in possession in the opposition half.

As Phelan said after the match: “In rugby at the top level, each mistake is paid for in points. I am happy with the attitude of the players. They did some things well, and there are some aspects to work on.”

The show now moves on to Mendoza next Saturday where the Pumas will play the return match against South Africa before crossing the Pacific in September to take on world champions New Zealand and Australia, finally finishing in Argentina when New Zealand come to La Plata and Australia visit Rosario. It promises to be an exciting spring for Argentine rugby fans.

Argentina’s Rugby Union, the UAR, signalled their intent to compete with the best in the world ahead of their debut season in the Investec Rugby Championship with the appointment yesterday of New Zealand’s 2011 World Cup winning coach, Sir Graham Henry, as consultant to Argentina’s High Performance Programme.

He will take up his duties on a part-time basis on a one year contract, mentoring Argentina’s international coaches across all the age and development levels, working with the Pampas XV, Jaguars, and the senior Pumas squad. He will be combining it with a similar role as mentor to New Zealand’s high performance coaches at the Super 15 and provincial level.

Announcing Henry’s arrival at a press conference at the NH City Hotel in Buenos Aires, the president of the UAR’s High Performance Sub-commission, Manuel Galindo, said: “We consider it a great advance to be able to call on Sir Graham Henry as technical consultant, we must exploit this opportunity to learn from one of the most prestigious figures in the world of international rugby.”

The 65-year-old Kiwi comes with an impressive CV after twice winning the Super 12 with Auckland Blues, before reviving Welsh rugby after his appointment as coach in 1998. Henry earned himself the soubriquet ‘The Great Redeemer’ after 11 straight victories, including the opening match of the 1999 World Cup against Argentina in Cardiff.

After leading the British Lions on their 2001 tour of Australia, he took over as the coach of his homeland’s side following their quarter final exit in the 2003 World Cup. He subsequently coached New Zealand to five Tri-Nations Championship wins before last year’s World Cup victory.

It was following this great achievement that Henry stepped down as New Zealand coach, with some commentators expecting him to take up the vacant England coach’s job. However he stated that he wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue the opportunity to work abroad, something that enticed him to come to Argentina.

On his appointment with the Pumas, Henry said: “The entry of Argentina to the Rugby Championship is exciting and at the same time it is an extreme challenge. To play against the three best teams in the world rankings is an important challenge.” He explained: “My role will be offering the UAR’s High Performance team and its coaches an insight into what is required to create a national programme that will ultimately lead to a more competitive national team.”

Pumas’ coach Santiago Phelan welcomed the appointment saying: “It makes me very happy that Henry is joining us. To be able to count on the support of Sir Graham Henry allows us to enlarge on the vision that we have for our rugby and present to the players the best available people for continuing to grow day by day.”

Henry will oversee Argentina’s Investec Championship debut against South Africa in Cape Town on 18^th August after home test matches against Italy and France, but will step aside for the Pumas’ home and away matches with New Zealand in September to avoid any conflict of interest with his other employers at the New Zealand RFU.

These are heady days for Argentine rugby. In October they reached the quarter final of the Rugby World Cup, losing only 33-10 to eventual champions New Zealand  after beating Scotland and giving England an almighty scare in the pool stage, and next year they will join New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the enlarged Rugby Championship, world rugby’s toughest annual competition.

One man who has been a key element of that World Cup success and in the rise of the Pumas to the world elite over the past decade is captain and outside-half, Felipe Contepomi. Aged 34, Contepomi was playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup after making his debut for Argentina against Chile as a 21-year-old in 1998.

After starting his career in Buenos Aires with Newman, Contepomi has subsequently played for some of the biggest clubs in Europe including Bristol, Leinster, London Irish, Toulon and current club Stade Français. His thrilling play with ball in hand and coolness under pressure as a goal-kicker have endeared him to fans wherever he has played, not least to those of the national team with whom he won the bronze medal at the 2007 Rugby World Cup where Argentina beat France to earn third-place in the tournament.

Contepomi’s talents do not extend solely to the rugby pitch, he is also a qualified orthopaedic surgeon and earlier this month has been appointed to the Athlete Panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The Argentine captain recently took time out of his busy schedule in Paris to talk to The Indy about the recent World Cup and his time playing for the Pumas.

AI: Felipe, how does Argentina’s achievement at this year’s Rugby World Cup compare with four years ago in France?

FC: It is not comparable you know, they were two different teams. In 2007 we arrived with a team that knew each other very well, we had a very good start of the World Cup when we beat France in the opening game and that put us into a good position for the quarter final to get something more acceptable. This one we arrived with not many people thinking we could do well, we had a very young team, an inexperienced team and I think we did extremely well in building up a team that showed great courage, we played some good rugby against England and Romania and scraped a victory against Scotland and played a good sixty minutes against the All Blacks, and so overall it was a good World Cup.

AI: You have had a long and successful career with the Pumas, some commentators have pointed to the win in Cardiff over Wales in Cardiff in 2001 as being pivotal to Argentina’s rise to the elite of world rugby. What do you think was the turning point and why?

FC: I think it was a huge victory for us because we played a great team and we had the chance to beat them for the first time ever in Wales, the following week we went on to Scotland and beat them at Murrayfield, and then the following week we only just lost against the All Blacks in Buenos Aires, so those November tests of 2001 were huge in giving us belief.

AI: For many years you played together for the Pumas with Agustín Pichot, what was the secret to your successful half-back partnership? Did it help playing together at Bristol?

FC: We’ve enjoyed playing together on the pitch and we both have a similar understanding of the game, therefore we understood each other really well. We’ve also become very good friends and obviously that made it easier as well.

AI: What was your strangest experience with the Pumas?

FC: I don’t know if it was the strangest, but one day to forget was when we lost to Australia in Buenos Aires in 2002, I had a shocker with my kicking boots.

AI: Your family has strong connections with the Pumas, what was it like playing alongside Manuel for Argentina?

FC: I’ve always said I’ve been very lucky in my rugby career, because playing for your country with a brother is nice, with friends is great, but with your twin brother and best friend all at once is unique. We’ve played many years and three Rugby World Cups together and those were my highlights of my career.

AI: Looking ahead to the Rugby Championship next year, what do you think it will do for the profile of rugby in Argentina to play the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks year in, year out?

FC: It will only help the rugby profile back home but also will help to develop rugby in Argentina and for the Pumas to become more competitive against the best.

AI: The development of young Argentine talent through PladAr and victory in the Vodacom Cup bodes well for the future of the Pumas. Who among the youngsters excites you, and who are the players of the next generation to look out for?

FC: It would be unfair for me to speak about specific players because I am still playing with them, but I think Argentinian rugby has been breeding really good players through the past few years and there are good ones coming along.

AI: Do you think Argentine players will gravitate towards Super 15 (Southern Hemisphere provincial competition) rugby in the future, rather than Europe as they do now?

FC: That’s still a dynamic that we will have to wait and see what happens in these transition years.

AI: During your time at Bristol and Leinster you completed your medical studies, do you plan to return to Argentina and practice as a doctor once your professional days are over?

FC: Yes, that’s the idea.

AI: That being the case, would you consider going back to play for your old Buenos Aires club, Newman?

FC: It’s hard to say it now. I’ve always said I’d love to finish playing in Newman, but I don’t want to make myself illusions, I’d rather wait and see what happens.

AI: Finally, as a fan of Independiente, would you like to play a test match for Argentina in their new Estadio Libertadores de América?

FC: Yes of course. I had the chance to play there last June against the French Barbarians and it was a great party, hopefully there will be more games there.

Argentina’s national team, the Pumas, had their place in the elite of world rugby confirmed with the launch of The Rugby Championship last week, an annual competition which will see them play world champions New Zealand as well as Australia and South Africa on a home and away basis from 2012.

Greg Peters, CEO of tournament organisers SANZAR told a press conference to mark the launch: “The invitation to Argentina to join the Championship is a defining moment for Southern Hemisphere rugby and significant for world rugby.”

He added: “The regular participation of Argentina at a higher level is long overdue and we are excited about their inclusion in The Rugby Championship. Playing in the Championship will have significant benefits for Argentine rugby as a whole and will bring new energy to the jewel in the crown of SANZAR. The Pumas, as they showed at the Rugby World Cup, play an exciting and different brand of rugby to the three other teams, which will definitely add a new dimension.”

President of the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR), Luis Castillo, talked of his country’s pride at inclusion in the tournament, saying: “The Argentine Rugby Union and Argentinian rugby community is proud to be part of this great tournament. We will work to maintain high standards in our rugby, with our ultimate goal being to keep generating resources for the development of rugby at the clubs.”

Argentina’s inclusion marks the culmination of four years of hard work by administrators of the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR) to gain admission to a top grade tournament following the country’s third place finish at the 2007 World Cup in France. The captain of that side, Agustín Pichot, was UAR’s SANZAR representative as Argentina lobbied to join the competition, and he could barely contain his joy at finally accomplishing his mission: “After many years of history and the hard work of many generations on and off the pitch, Argentinian rugby will be part of the toughest and most prestigious tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.”

In preparation, a development plan had been put in place after the last World Cup to ensure that Argentina continued to produce top international players and prove that the 2007 success was not a fluke. The benefits of that plan are already evident, with the Pampas XV club side winning the Vodacom Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Having established themselves in the top eight of world rugby over the past decade, admission to a competition of the calibre of The Rugby Championship gives the Pumas opportunity to push on and prove themselves to be a consistent top four side.

As UAR High Performance Chairman Manuel Galindo says: “For years Argentinian rugby has been seeking to participate regularly in a tournament like this. Playing in The Rugby Championship makes us really proud and will compel us to work harder at what we are doing. We must celebrate being part of the tournament.”

It is not known at this stage where in Argentina the matches will be played. In previous years test matches have been played in provincial cities like Salta, Mendoza and Santa Fe, as well as Buenos Aires, but as the recent football Copa América showed, Argentina is not lacking in top class sports stadia. The impressive new ‘estadio único’, inaugurated in the city of La Plata in time for that tournament, is already being touted as a potential venue. A final decision will be made later in the year after a fact-finding visit by a SANZAR delegation in November.

Having put up a brave fight against New Zealand in the recent World Cup quarter-final one thing is sure, Argentine rugby fans are in for a treat from next winter as Richie McCaw and Co come over to their stadiums on a regular basis.

This month the best young rugby players on the planet will be converging on Argentina to compete for the Junior Rugby World Championship, to be held in the Litoral region between 5th- 21st June, with matches being staged in Rosario, Santa Fe and Paraná.

This is the third edition of the tournament which started in 2008, and is the first to be held in the southern hemisphere. It has been a breeding ground for some of the most exciting talents to have emerged in recent years such as Zac Guildford of New Zealand, Australia’s David Pocock and Welshman, Leigh Halfpenny, who have all featured in previous competitions.

It is not for nothing that the tournament slogan is ‘The future of World Rugby is played in Argentina’, as the likes of England full-back, Tom Homer, New Zealand’s fly-half, Tyler Bleyendaal and Australian fly-half, Matt Toomua are being tipped to have big careers in the future.

Argentina face a tough group programme, all to be played at the Newell’s Old Boys stadium in Rosario, if they are to progress to the semi-final. They play England on 5th June followed by France on 9th June before concluding against Ireland on 13th June. If they do make it that far they will then have to overcome red-hot favourites New Zealand to take the trophy.

For hooker, Tomás Baravalle, the venue has a special resonance having been born and brought up in Rosario and playing for Jockey Club in the city. He says: “When they told me that it would be played here it made me very happy, to play in my city, in front of my people, that is going to play in our favour.”

Not that the Pumitas (little Pumas) as they are known, are under any illusions about the task ahead of them having warmed up by playing some of the best sides in the world. The side captained by San Isidro back-row forward, Alan Kessen have already pitted themselves against two of the favourites, touring South Africa where they earned a creditable draw in their final match, and losing 33-13 to Australia last Saturday at the Lomas Athletic ground in Longchamps.

Development opportunity

For all members of the Argentina squad, the competition acts as a fantastic window of opportunity to press their claims for progression to the senior national team. As far as Pumas coach, Santiago Phelan, is concerned the message to the youngsters is clear: “We are looking. This Junior World Championship is very hard and we’ll see who is ready for the next step. Some of the team from last year are in the high performance plan. They could be next as the system feeds from the Under 20s.”

That point was reinforced when no fewer than seven graduates of previous Junior World Championships made their senior debuts for the Pumas at the recent South American Championship in Santiago. They included Belisario Agulla, Gullermo Roan, Nicolás Sanchez and Martín Landajo from the class of 2008, meanwhile Tomás Cubelli, Rodrigo Báez and Luciano Proto played in last year’s event in Japan.

Of the current side the pick of the players to look out for are the man-mountain Kessen, his fellow back-row forward Tómas De la Vega and the Tucumán fly-half, Ignacio Rodríguez Muedra.

Legacy

One of the conditions for the International Rugby Board granting the tournament to Argentina was that it would leave a legacy both during and after the competition in terms of developing the sport within the country.

This, the Argentine Rugby Union have embraced wholeheartedly with four initiatives; One club, one country, You can also become a Puma, Rugby in the neighbourhoods and Rugby at schools, designed to reach out to 70,000 children in the host region and encourage their participation in the sport.

The idea is to break out from the sport’s traditional middle class strongholds in sport and country clubs, and into schools and the poorer barrios in the host cities to bring the sport to a new audience. Players from the competing teams will be assisting in holding coaching clinics, whilst each nation will be hosted by a different club to promote cultural exchange.

As Oscar Morales, Executive Director of the Legacy Programme says: “We want to involve children in a sport that develops respect, sportsmanship and integration. It can be played by children of all heights and weights. We are also including girls as from 2016 rugby will again be an Olympic sport involving both men and women.”

All in all it should be a great festival of rugby and a chance for Argentina to show just how well it can host world-class sporting events and reconfirm itself as the rising force in international rugby. As Pumas legend Agustín Pichot told Total Rugby Radio: “Having a Junior World Championship in Argentina has everyone really excited … It is being played in a region with great people who are already really looking forward to it. Things have been done with a great passion and everyone will be there. I am keen to go and support los Pumitas.”