The Next Argentine Coach?

The departure of Mario Ledesma as head coach of Los Pumas means a new coach will take charge of the team in 2022 and will coach the team to the World Cup in France in 2023. Who will be the new Argentine coach?

The new coach could, in theory, be many different people; however, the field can be narrowed when considering a few key points. First, the coach will not come from Ledesma’s support staff. They joined him in standing down from their positions. Second, the UAR will not seek a foreign coach; rather, they will seek an Argentine. Third, the person must know both the professional game and domestic front and back.

Argentina require someone who knows what it is like for players both at home and abroad. They need someone well connected to these two worlds; two conflicting but real worlds. A Spanish speaker is required who has elite coaching experience and knows Argentina very well. In short, the field can be narrowed to a handful of Argentines.

Writing for Rugby Champagne, Hernando De Cillia and Jorge Ciccodicola argue that Felipe Contepomi is placed to be the new Argentine coach. They point out the timing of Ledesma’s departure enabled Contepomi to be able to depart Leinster to take charge of Los Pumas.

Contepomi is presently an assistant at Leinster and is a previous head coach of the Argentina XV. In other words, his previous experience has not seen him in charge of a professional team at the elite level. His time coaching in Ireland will boost him compared to some, though not all.

In my estimation Contepomi is one of two candidates who can be placed at the top of the list. The other is Gonzalo Quesada. He coached Los Jaguares to the 2019 Super Rugby Final and he previously coached Stade Français to the Top 14 title. He played professional rugby in France and played at RWCs alongside Contepomi.

The player resumé of Contepomi beats that of Quesada. Contepomi has more caps, more test points, more RWC appearances and a longer professional career that saw him playing at the top in England, France and Ireland.

Additional candidates in the conversation ought to be Emiliano Bergamaschi, Germán Fernández, Mauricio Reggiardo, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe and Rodolfo Ambrosio. All are from Argentina and all have been close to the UAR in a coaching capacity in either the past or present.

The naming of the new coach may take some time. This is welcome for Argentina as for the first time since Argentina joined the Rugby Championship in 2012, a coach has stood down during the off-season. Santiago Phelan and Daniel Hourcade both stood down during test seasons.

There is now time not only for Contepomi to negotiate his relase from Leinster but also for Quesada to depart Stade Français. His prior decision to leave France to coach Super Rugby was more similar to the present situation than it is different. The UAR will be making Quesada their number one priority; his success coaching in the Top 14 and Super Rugby make him the top option ahead of Contepomi.