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Winless Pumas needs break after '12 months in a row' of rugby
By AAP
Winless Argentina endured a difficult finish to a challenging Rugby Championship with defeat at the hands of Australia, but coach Mario Ledesma has praised the character shown by his team at the end of an arduous tour.
The Pumas went into the game on the Gold Coast without six players who were sidelined for breaching pandemic protocols on an unsanctioned day trip to Byron Bay.
With injuries and fatigue taking their toll on a weary Argentina, who have not played a home Test in two years, a makeshift team went on to lose 32-17 to the Wallabies.
"They've played 12 months in a row," said Ledesma. "They finished their seasons in Europe, went to play the July internationals. Two weeks later, three weeks later we were playing South Africa after 10 days of holidays.
"It's not the best way to prepare. They need a little rest."
There will be no let-up on the horizon for Ledesma's team, however, with Tests lined up in Europe against France, Italy and Irela nd in November.
Despite their difficulties, the Pumas finished the competition on something of a high as a pair of tries from Thomas Gallo gave the scoreboard a respectable sheen against a Wallabies side that held a 32-3 lead after less than an hour.
"I thought we had 10 minutes in the second half when they scored easy tries, like really easy tries," said Ledesma.
"And then there was a show of character too, after two months of a lot of effort and sacrifice, especially after a difficult week the boys showed character.
"Maybe the game was done but you still have to do it."
Ledesma said it was impossible to assess how much the loss of the sextet, which included Santiago Medrano and Pablo Matera, had on his team as they sought their first win in this season's Rugby Championship.
"It's really difficult to calculate that," he said. "How do you? It's just intangible. There's nothing concrete. There's no data to know how much that weighed on the game or not.
"But I thought the guys who came from the bench, who were guys who didn't play the whole tournament, they were pretty good."
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Latest Comments
Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.
Go to commentsKeep telling yourself that. The time for a fresh broom is at the beginning - not some "balanced, incremental" (i.e. status quo) transition. All teams establish the way forward at the beginning. This coaching group lacked ideas and courage and the players showed it on the pitch. Backs are only average. Forwards are unbalanced and show good set piece but no domination in traditional AB open play. Unfortunately, Foster - Mark 2. You may be happy with those performances and have some belief in some "cunning plan" but I don't see any evidence of it. Rassie is miles ahead and increasing the gap.
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