Argentina’s rugby side, the Pumas, concluded their tour of Great Britain at the end of November on an upbeat note defeating Scotland 9-6 in Edinburgh with virtually the last kick of the game, having lost the first two tests to England and Wales.
Coach, Santiago Phelan, took a touring party combining experienced veterans of the 2007 World Cup led by captain, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, and nine home-based players. Crucially missing from the squad due to injury were three of Argentina’s truly world- class players; Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Felipe Contepomi and their talismanic fly-half, Juan-Martín Hernández.
The Pumas opened their tour against England at Twickenham, hoping to replicate their success of 2006. Argentina fielding six amateurs based at home gave a debut to Martín Rodríguez of the Atlético Rosario club, and it was he that assumed the goal-kicking duties in the absence of Contepomi and Hernández.
In a game marked by both sides kicking from deep and strewn with handling errors, Argentina were on the back foot for much of the game, losing five line-outs on their own throw (perhaps not surprising given they had only trained for one day together prior to the game).
However the Pumas’ defence held firm, ably marshalled by the unflappable Patricio Albacete, whilst Fernández Lobbe set a captain’s example by marauding forward whenever the opportunity arose. The sides went in level at 6-6 at half-time, Rodríguez trading penalties with the English fly-half, Jonny Wilkinson.
The second-half proceeded in a similarly monotonous way until with ten minutes to go an English attack finally broke Argentine resistance, with Matt Banahan crossing for the only try of the game.
This setback finally spurred Argentina’s attack into action as they laid siege to England’s try line, only to be denied by stout English defence and some harsh refereeing by the Welshman, Nigel Owens.
In the event the Pumas were left to rue three penalty misses by Rodríguez as England clung on for a 16-9 win. The sense of regret was summed up after the game by Phelan who said: “If I had the chance again, I would attack them more. We came close to drawing but, having watched the game again, it was a missed opportunity. We showed great pride in the jersey and we fought to the very end but I am not happy because the match was there for the winning and little things cost us.”
A week later in Cardiff, Argentina again struggled to assert themselves against a rampant Wales side. The Pumas found themselves on the back-foot as early as the quarter-hour mark when a cheeky Stephen Jones tap penalty caught the Argentine defence off-guard to scurry over the line to score the opening try.
Fernández Lobbe again led from the front taking the game back to the Welsh, but any Argentine advantage in the forwards was negated by loose-head prop, Rodrigo Roncero being repeatedly penalised by referee Clancy for collapsing the scrum.
After going into the break 13-3 up, Wales immediately set about increasing their advantage. Luke Charteris charged down Agustín Figueroa’s kick, and from the resultant break Shane Williams picked his way through the Argentine defence to score an exhilarating try.
As the game became more open in the second half, the Pumas brought themselves back into the match. A Jonathan Davies kick was charged down by Martín Rodríguez who picked up the loose ball to score Argentina’s first try of the tour, which he subsequently converted.
However any hopes of an Argentine comeback were soon dispelled as Shane Williams exploited the mass of empty space in front of him to score his second try of the game and set the seal on an emphatic 33-16 win for Wales.
For the final game against Scotland, Phelan made six changes from the team comprehensively outplayed by Wales. In came Ayerza, Vernet Basualdo, Carizza, Campos, Lalanne and Martín Aramburú, as the Pumas sought to restore wounded pride.
Scotland had the best of a turgid first period, leading 6-0 at half-time through two Phil Godman penalties. It was a different story in the second half as Argentina’s luck turned for the better. Nathan Hines was sent to the sin-bin for an unsightly spear tackle on Gonzalo Tiesi and Rodríguez halved the deficit with a 40 metre penalty before Argentina used the extra man to their advantage to level the score at 6-6.
With just three minutes left on the clock, Argentina worked themselves into a good field position which Rodríguez – arguably the find of the tour – exploited to the full to score a match winning drop goal.
With the 2011 World Cup fast appearing on the horizon (in which the Pumas will face both England and Scotland), and the much hoped for entry to the Tri-Nations due to take place in 2012, there was a lot of focus on how the new breed of Pumas would perform on this tour. Whilst it yielded few positives in terms of scoreline, Phelan will be heartened that some of his home-based players like Rodríguez acquitted themselves well, proving the effectiveness of Argentina’s new High Performance Programme.