Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Individual attributes and the needs of a team can combine to see an established player moved to a different position. This happens everywhere from the amateur leagues to the test arena. If a player is ‘out of position’ at his club this may harm his chances of international honors; that is, at least the hypothesis.
Moving players from one position to another is not out of the ordinary. Reece Hodge at fly half for Australia, Beauden Barrett at fullback for New Zealand, Cameron Woki at second-row for France, Stuart Hogg at fly half for Scotland and Owen Farrell at center for England are recent examples.
Argentina has a history of moving players from one position to another. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro holds the appearance record for a Pumas prop with 67 caps. He was a tight-head for Argentina from 2010-2015 before converting to loose head in 2016 as Argentina adapted to life without Marcos Ayerza. Tetaz Chaparro is now firmly a loose head rather than a polyfunctional prop.
PUMAS WINDS OF CHANGE
The end of Los Jaguares in Super Rugby has see a transformation that Argentina is yet to adjust to. World Rugby’s calendar does not help; Mario Ledesma is in a battle he cannot win to secure players for international duty. The lack of a global season saw many, including captain Julián Montoya, playing year-round in 2021.
Argentines are in Europe in bigger numbers now than during the peak Pumas campaigns of RWCs 2007 and 2015. There is no shortage of players featuring with regularity for elite teams. Leicester are very happy with Montoya as are Gloucester with Matías Alemanno and Perpignan with Jerónimo de la Fuente. They are regulars in their same positions.
POLYFUNCTIONAL PUMAS FORWARDS
Other players are used in more than one position. In some cases this is true for both club and country. Marcos Kremer is a case in point. Is he a second-rower? Is he a flanker? The answer is both; he is polyfunctional for Argentina and for Stade Français and this will continue in 2022.
Bordeaux move Guido Petti from second-row to flanker and back with regularity. Mario Ledesma had him starting at second-row in July 2021 and moving to flanker in the second-half. He had a start at flanker against South Africa. He is polyfunctional, though there is less of a debate as to his best position than the case of Kremer. In 2022 Petti will be wearing 4 for Argentina. The uncapped Rodrigo Fernández Criado is one to follow closely. He could play either second-row for flanker for Los Pumas in 2022.
Former captain Pablo Matera started three test matches out of position for Argentina in 2021. With Facundo Isa and Rodrigo Bruni sidelined, Ledesma moved Matera to N8. Given Argentina’s options at flanker and second-row Matera at N8 is an option for 2022.
Toulon have a tendency to move Facundo Isa from N8 to flanker and back. Ledesma did the same in 2020 and 2021. Indications are that Isa is in the frame for both positions in 2022. He is genuinely polyfunctional, enabling the coaches to start another player at either position with Isa performing his duties with his busy workrate.
POLYFUNCIONAL PUMAS BACKS
Wing is perhaps Argentina’s strongest position. There are players doing well for themselves at elite clubs across England, France and Scotland. Matías Moroni is a natural outside center and this is his position for Leicester. For Argentina he has moved so frequently that his record for consecutive starts in one position is 5 caps at center in 2017-2018. His 57 caps are virtually split between center and wing.
Moroni is not alone; Emiliano Boffelli is polyfunctional. Both Moroni and Boffelli started in more than one position in 2021, despite Moroni arguably being best-suited to 13 and Boffelli is to 15. Boffelli was arguably the best Pumas back in November. He played fullback and is now playing wing for Edinburgh. Ledesma has previously trained with Boffelli at fly half.
Ledesma moved Juan Cruz Mallía from outside center to fullback in 2021. He was officially the first choice in the position when fit though he played center for Toulouse in 2021 and has started 2022 on the wing. What is Mallía’s best position? Ledesma deems it to be fullback which suggests that Boffelli and Mallía are competing for the Pumas 15 shirt.
2021 saw Lucio Cinti debuting and starting at center ahead of Moroni. He was also used on the wing and his club position at London Irish is also polyfunctional to include fullback. What is Cinti’s best position? The answer is likely outside center. His Olympics teammate Ignacio Mendy debuted alongside him against South Africa as a winger though he is also polyfunction and likely to be a Pumas contender for fullback.
During his time in Europe Santiago Cordero has started mostly on the wing but has also done so at fullback. His Pumas career is similar, though with less time at fullback. Problems at Bordeaux now see Cordero moved to play scrum-half. This will not happen for Los Pumas; Cordero is polyfunctional as an outside back. Juan Imhoff famously played scrum-half to win the Top 14 and Sebastián Cancelliere had a season in the position for the Argentina XV.
Cordero at 9 makes the unthinkable at least possible; that is a 9-10 combination of Santiago Cordero and Santiago Carreras. Ledesma moved the Gloucester winger to fly half in 2021 and will continue playing him there in 2022. Gloucester have no intentions of fielding Carreras at 10 but will play him at fullback from time-to-time.
Another example of a radical shift is Facundo Bosch. While at Agen he had startes at flanker. This will not happen for Argentina. Similarly, fellow hookers Santiago Socino and Agustín Creevy converted to the position as adults. Neither is a contender to play flanker for Los Pumas in 2022.
