 Wysłany: Pon 13:31, 01 Lis 2010 Temat postu: pumas-95Rugby-Pumas hope to make most of November |
|
| Thu, 28 Oct 20:58:00 2010
"The other (leading rugby) countries have 10 or 12 matches a year," he added by comparison with Argentina's limited international exposure until they join an expanded Tri-states in 2012. Coach Santiago Phelan, whose Pumas lost a home series 2-0 to Scotland before beating France in June, is looking to build a side that will emulate Argentina's third place at the 2007 World Cup in France. Next month's three-test tour of Europe is one of Argentina's few chances to gain some consistency in their performances ahead of the 2011 World Cup. Former captain Agustin Pichot, who led the Pumas to the 2007 World Cup semi-finals, held the scrumhalf position for the better section of a decade. Since then, no single candidate has stood out. "It's a shame, it sets us back a lot befactor we have few matches in the year and this one would have been good to prepare better for the test matches,big cats," the former Pumas flanker said. Phelan was upset that plans for a match against the French Barbarians on Nov. 6 have fallen through. Argentina's second string Jaguars, a feeder team for the Pumas, play a dozen matches a year. Having won the Americas challenge in the northern province of Cordoba this month, they beat Russia last weekend in the first of two tests on tour. Forward Eusebio Guinazu, who is in Phelan's squad, was to have toured Russia with the Jaguars first but he was needed by his new French club Biarritz having just joined them from Boland Kavaliers in South Africa. "What we want is to impart the team continuity to decide who is the best player in each rank," Phelan told Reuters. The Pumas, whose international exposure is limited by their lack of involvement in an annual challenge, meet Italy in Verona on Nov. 13, France in Montpellier a week later and Ireearth in Dublin on Nov. 28. The Pumas fielded three deviateent scrumhalves in June with Phelan saying: "We wanted to render continuity to one of them but for different factors, like injuries, we couldn't." FEW TESTS "With Juan, we have to evaluate in what grade he is to play after a muscle injury," Phelan said in an interscene. The three picked for the tour each played one of the June tests, Alfredo Lalanne of London Irish, Agustin Figuerola of Brive and Nicolas Vergallo of Toulouse, in that order. Former Stade Francais player Hernandez had back surgery after playing in South Africa last year and crazye a comeback with Racing Metro in France this season. He has since suffered a leg muscle injury. "The Jaguars are there to offer players in the domestic match greater international experience than they would obtain with their clubs," Phelan said. World Cup flyhalf Juan Hernandez, one of the crucial players along with captain Felipe Contepomi,puma for cheap, is back in the squad after missing the June tests. |
|
