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Daniel Hourcade has quit as Argentina Head Coach. In the post match conference following today’s 30-12 defeat against Wales El Huevo confirmed his resignation.
Argentina fell to a 2-0 home series defeat against Wales. It follows a 2-0 home defeat a year ago against England and losses across the board in general against Tier 1 opposition.
Since RWC 2015 Argentina has beaten France, Italy (2), Georgia, Japan, and South Africa. All told just 3 wins have come from the past 22 matches. Those wins were in the form of Georgia in Jujuy, Italy in Florence, and Japan in Tokyo.
At the press conference in Santa Fé, Hourcade confirmed that next Saturday’s home match against Scotland will be his last. Los Pumas take-on the Scots in Resistencia in their third, and final, match of the June Internationals.
Hourcade declared:
“I think that the team did not show answers. The responsibility is absolutely mine, I assume it entirely. The message is no longer getting through and we feel that clearly this is a completed cycle. We talked previously with the UAR and agreed that the (June) window was decisive. We did everything possible and there are not responses from the team. The responsibility is entirely mine”.
Hourcade became Argentina Head Coach in October 2013. He was an eleventh-hour replacement for Santiago Phelan who stood down after a second winless Rugby Championship campaign.
Under Hourcade Los Pumas achieved their first win away to Italy in November 2013. They would be winless at home in June 2014 but would go on to defeat Australia in Mendoza and France in Paris.
In 2015 Hourcade took Los Pumas to their first ever win over South Africa. He then coached the team to the Semi Finals of RWC 2015 where they defeated Georgia, Tonga, and Namibia in pool play and Ireland in the Quarter Finals.
In 2016 Argentina defeated South Africa in Salta and both Italy and France in the June Internationals. Yet the win over the Springboks would be the last victory over a higher ranked rival under the Hourcade regime.
Under Hourcade the selection policy was altered to make players based in Europe no longer eligible for Los Pumas. This very policy was set to change for this month’s internationals only for it to be reversed. Los Jaguars have thereby remained the players wearing the colors of Argentina until now.
The policy is being looked at in detail with a conclusion set to follow. UAR President Marcelo Rodríguez explains:
“We are taking a step forward and we will make the changes that we need to, and we decided not to modify the rule of summoning players who are active in Europe . We started analyzing future possibilities to always have a plan. I have been analyzing some options both in Argentina and abroad, so once this has been finished we will evaluate all the alternatives we have been analyzing and we will make a final decision, I do not want to give names for a matter of respect and because nothing has been finalized”.
