Hourcade “European based players in the Pumas would be a backward step”

Daniel Hourcade has clarified his stance ahead of the Rugby Championship. The Pumas Head Coach is against the selection of European based players. In his opinion those involved in the Jaguares program merit places first and foremost.

Marcos Ayerza, Marcelo Bosch, Manuel Carizza, Juan Fernández Lobbe, Juan Figallo, Mariano Galarza and Juan Imhoff are names known to the worldwide rugby community. Names, though, expected to be missing from Hourcade’s roster for the Rugby Championship.

Home produce is believed to be the answer. But identifying names to fill in for those based in Europe is not simple math. Against the backdrop of underselling results in Super Rugby certain individuals have made the step up and are ready.

Of those with Los Jaguares who are either uncapped or did not play in the Rugby World Cup there are cases of strong performers. Cases in point being Felipe Arregui, Gonzalo Bertranou, Emiliano Boffelli and Tomás Lezana. All four are certain to be serious contenders for Rugby World Cup 2019.

Younger still are Marcos Kremer, Ignacio Larrague and Enrique Pieretto. All three are uncapped and are bright lights for the future. They are being pushed so hard that they are likely to all be capped before the end of the year.

Hourcade maintains his position – to be a Puma one must come home. He also names individual players. Ayerza, Bosch, Figallo and Imhoff were all mentioned by El Huevo as cases of outstanding players who need to pay the price for playing abroad.

Banking on youth is a longterm investment. He has results to prove that he knows what he is doing. During his tenure he has wins over elite opposition including Australia, France, Ireland and South Africa.  In these wins a common theme was the blooding of new players.

The likes of Santiago Cordero, Facundo Isa, Julián Montoya, Matías Moroni and Guido Petti were virtually or literally all plucked straight out of the Pumitas and made into Pumas. All were prominent members of the World Cup roster last September and October.

They are instances of players who have remained in Argentina. Now under Super Rugby contracts Hourcade has full access to them at all times. This is the central difference to those playing in European leagues. The calendar complicates their involvement and Hourcade is not interested in headaches.

Some headaches, though, are inevitable. A number of players involved in Los Jaguares and / or the Argentina XV this season have departed for Europe. Just this week Joaquín Paz and Juan León Novillo confirmed their departures to Italy. They follow other youngsters including Manuel Plaza, Juan Ignacio Brex, Bautista Guemes, Sebastian Poet and Martín Chiappesoni who have departed.

In making it a closed shop scenario Hourcade wants the players to return. Some have done so. In recent weeks Gonzalo Camacho and Lucas Martínez returned to their Buenos Aires clubs from Leicester and Castres respectively.