Changes Unlikely as Marcelo Rodríguez is Elected UAR President

Marcelo Rodríguez has been elected UAR President and will take over as the Head of Argentine Rugby in April. His election win promises to see existing policies continue under his leadership. He takes up the role after having been President of Sudamérica Rugby since 2016.

Rodríguez will be officially sworn in as President at the UAR annual assembly on March 23. His successful candidacy follows a long-running dispute between Buenos Aires (URBA) and the rest of the country.

While Rodríguez was widely supported from outside of the capital province, URBA was overwhelmingly in favor of Gabriel Travaglini. Rodríguez gained the approval of 24 of the 25 Argentine federations. The one not supporting Rodríguez was URBA.

Travaglini is to be Rodríguez’ VVice-President which, in itself, is a reflection of the political game within Argentine rugby. The mainland have their representative while URBA have theirs.

A Puma from 1978-1987, Travaglini earned 23 caps as a flanker and played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup. He played for one of the leading URBA clubs, Club Atlético San Isidro – CASI. The same club produced the likes of Jorge Allen, Agustin Pichot and Santiago Phelan.

Make no mistake the power of URBA in Argentine rugby cannot be underestimated. While URBA is one of 25 federations within Argentine it holds 37% of the voting power.

Rodríguez is from San Juan, a province bordering Chile. His election sees a third-straight non-URBA leader for the UAR. It also sees the UAR being headed from outside of Buenos Aires for the third time overall. The first was Luis Francisco Castillo of Tucumán with the second being the outgoing Carlos Araújo of Rosario.

Pumas Policy Changes Unlikely
The new regime will run the UAR for four years. The election of Rodríguez is a guarantee of the continuation of existing policies. What this means for Los Pumas is that Daniel Hourcade is certain to remain on as Head Coach until RWC 2019 and that the Jaguares and other systems are to remain unchanged.

For players in Europe it means their involvement for Los Pumas in 2018 is highly unlikely. Argentina’s task of winning June Internationals against Wales and Scotland will require vastly improved performances than those from 2017. The Rugby Championship will then follow with the November Internationals ending what is to be an extremely challenging year of matches.

The debates from 2017 will likely reemerge as Los Jaguares are to remain on as Los Pumas. This despite the exodus list having grown. Marcelo Bosch, Patricio Fernández, Juan Figallo, Mariano Galarza, Facundo Isa, Juan Imhoff, and Juan Pablo Socino have been joined by the likes of Santiago Cordero, Ramiro Herrera and Lucas Noguera Paz.