In this special edition of Up and Under we look specifically at the coaching career of Daniel Hourcade for Argentina. El Huevo had a rollercoaster ride which included both remarkable results as well as dour performances.

All told Hourcade was in charge of Argentina for 54 test matches. This covered an extensive period from November 2013 to June 2018. His return was 15 victories and 39 defeats, or a winning performance of 27.77%.

Below are the Top 5 Up’s and Under’s of the Hourcade years.

UP

10 Argentina 45-16 Tonga, Leicester, RWC 2015
In their third pool match of RWC 2015 Los Pumas needed a win to move one step closer to securing a Quarter Final. After beating Georgia, Argentina was favorites to join New Zealand in advancing to the knock-out stages. In Leicester Diego Maradona was among the thousands of Argentine supporters. Tonga started with a bang with Kurt Morath polishing off a great opening try. Pressure continued with Argentina forced to dis-deep to hold on. Eventually the tied turned and tries resulted. Joaquín Tuculet, Juan Imhoff, Nicolás Sánchez, Julián Montoya, and Santiago Cordero each crossed while Sánchez kicked eight goals to give Argentina a comfortable victory.

9 Italy 15-31 Argentina, Florence, 2017 November Internationals
For Daniel Hourcade the November 2017 match against Italy was do-or-die. His job depended on the result. It was game two of the November Internationals for his team, the first being a lackluster defeat against England. He responded by starting Marcos Kremer and Sebastián Cancelliere ahead of regulars. Kremer had played in the 2017 Junior World Championship while Cancelliere was yet to feature in Super Rugby. They accounted for two of Argentina’s three tries, Joaquín Tuculet scoring the third. The match was back-and-forward until the late stages with the bench delivering the result. Replacement forwards Lucas Noguera Paz, Guido Petti, Benjamín Macome and Julián Montoya all impressed while the injection of Gonzalo Bertranou proved to be vital.

8 Argentina 54-9 Georgia, Gloucester, 2015 RWC
Los Pumas pushed RWC 2015 champions New Zealand hard in their opening match of that very tournament. Yet the competitive match ultimately swung the way of the All Blacks in the final quarter. Argentina needed to pick up the pieces and respond five days later against Georgia in Gloucester. They were given a torrid opening half from the Lelos before pulling away win win by 45 points. Wingers Santiago Cordero and Juan Imhoff both scored doubles but the Puma of the match was Facundo Isa.

7 Japan 20-54 Argentina, 2016 November Internationals
The 2016 Rugby Championship had one win for Los Pumas, one less than the declared target. From there Argentina would go on to play four tests in November. The first was in unfamiliar territory with a test away to Japan in Tokyo. Argentina’s backs had a field day with Matías Moroni, Santiago Cordero, and Nicolás Sánchez all scoring two tries. Tomás Cubelli ran in the remaining try to give the backs a 100% return from the seven tries scored. Javier Ortega Desio was the pick of the forwards, playing one of his finest matches in his test career.

6 Argentina 30-19 France, Tucumán, 2016 June Internationals
The 2016 June Internationals began very well for Argentina. First up was a win over Italy in Santa Fé and from there Argentina faced France twice in Tucumán. In the first of these matches Los Pumas played the better rugby to win by three tries to one. Scoring for the home team were Manuel Montero, Joaquín Tuculet, and Guido Petti. The try from Petti was an unforgettable solo effort which saw the second-rower out-sprinting French backs to score under the posts.

5 France 13-18 Argentina, Paris, 2014 November Internationals
Argentina ended their year in 2014 with a tryless victory over France in Paris. Nicolás Sánchez landed two penalties and three drop goals while Juan Martín Hernández also kicked one drop goal. In scoring four drop goals in the match the result is tied as the second highest in rugby history behind that mark of five which is jointly held by South Africa vs England fro RWC 1999 and Portugal vs Georgia from 2003.  It was not that Argentina were not trying to score tries. Instead the French defense was hard to break through. A disallowed try saw Juan Imhoff scoring in the left corner. The win was an upset with France having beaten Fiji and Australia over the previous two weekends.

4 Argentina 26-24 South Africa, Salta, 2016 Rugby Championship
Hourcade’s one win over a higher ranked opponent post RWC 2015 was South Africa in Salta in 2016.  Joaquín Tuculet and Juan Manuel Leguizamón were the try scorers but the story of there match was determination in the face of injuries.  The two-point win saw third choice kicker Santiago González Iglesias landing a late penalty to seal the win. Both Nicolás Sánchez and Juan Martín Hernández had departed injured which saw Martín Landajo playing fly half. Earlier Tomás Cubelli had replaced center Maítas Orlando. Making his test debut was prop Enrique Pieretto, initially doing so by replacing a back. Later Ramiro Herrera moved from tight head to the second-row, Guido Petti played flanker and Javier Ortega Desio played center.

3 Argentina 21-17 Australia, Mendoza 2014 Rugby Championship
Hourcade replaced Santiago Phelan in October 2013 and October 2014 would see the first of his historic victories. In the final match of the third Rugby Championship Argentina won for the first time. Both teams scored twice with Argentina’s tries coming from Leonardo Senatore and Juan Imhoff. Australia had disciplinary problems which saw both Nick Phipps and captain Michael Hooper yellow carded. In landing his shots at goal Nicolás Sánchez was the difference maker. He kicked three penalties in the match while Bernard Foley only landed one. The nervous victory was a come back with Imhoff’s 53rd minute try giving Argentina the lead. 27 minutes later saw history being made.

2 Ireland 20-43 Argentina, Cardiff, 2015 Rugby World Cup
Few RWC rivalries compare to that of Ireland vs Argentina. Los Pumas eliminated Ireland from RWC 1999, Ireland returned the favor in 2003 before Argentina then knocked-out Ireland in RWC 2007. In RWC 2015 Argentina again ended Ireland’s campaign, this time with a 17 point win in Cardiff, Wales. Matías Moroni, Joaquin Tuculet and Juan Imhoff scored tries in the win, Imhoff bagging a double. While Man of the Match, Nicolás Sánchez scored 23 points. Ireland went in as favorites based on winning their pool. It included a comprehensive win over France. Hourcade’s team, though would be 17-0 ahead in quick time and ultimately able to book a second RWC Semi Final in 3 RWC tournaments.

1 South Africa 25-37 Argentina, Durban 2015 Rugby Championship
Top of Hourcade’s successes is the historic 37-25 victory in Durban. Argentina’s first-ever win over South Africa took many by surprise. The four tries to three victory came with Argentina being in total control. Marcelo Bosch scored in the second minute. His try came from a set-piece move with Juan Imhoff breaking cleanly through the defensive line. Imhoff went on to score a hat-trick in the match, the first player in history to achieve the feat against South Africa. Juan Martín Hernández was well organized at fly half and came away with five goals.

UNDER

10 Scotland 19-16 Argentina, Edinburgh, 2016 November Internationals
In both November 2014 and November 2016 Scotland hosted Argentina as the underdogs. While the rise of Scotland in recent years cannot be denied Argentina’s performances in both these matches was below that what had been expected. In the 2016 match Argentina were seven points ahead after 53 minutes and appearing well set to win. Instead Scotland went on to win, doing so with a penalty with time up. The result saw Scotland overtake Argentina in the World Rankings. It was doom and gloom for Los Pumas with them being poised for a place in the Pool of Death in RWC 2019. England, France, Tonga and the USA await Argentina in Japan.

9 Wales 40-6 Argentina, Cardiff, 2014 November Internationals
The second match of the Hourcade era was a disaster. Argentina were resoundingly beaten as Wales scored four tries to zero. It would be the final test for Patricio Albacete due to an off-field dispute seeing Hourcade refusing the select him again. One year earlier the Santiago Phelan coached Pumas had comprehensively won 26-12 against Wales. Wingers Juan Imhoff and Gonzalo Camacho scored tries on that occasion though neither would feature in the 2014 match.

8 Argentina 25-35 England, Santa Fé, 2017 June Internationals
Argentina’s first match of 2017 saw Los Pumas defeated late in the piece by England. The 38-34 win was recently referred to by Hourcade as a potential turning point. What if Argentina had in fact won that game? Game two of the series saw England wining by 10 points to claim a 2-0 series victory. Eddie Jones’ England did so without England’s British & Irish Lions players. The visitors control the game to convert their 5 points half time lead into a 10 point victory. Joaquín Tuculet, Pablo Matera, and Emiliano Boffelli  each scored tries yet England ran in four of their own. Heavily involved was fly half George Ford who was the player of the series.

7 New Zealand 57-20 Argentina, Hamilton, 2016 Rugby Championship
A rugby match lasts 80 minutes. Trainers are responsible for the physical conditioning of players and coaches are responsible for utilizing replacements appropriately. The tactical use of the bench is the difference between many great teams from good ones. New Zealand’s home win over Argentina in 2016 emphasized the fitness of the All Blacks and the master play of the coaching staff. An excellent early try from Santiago Cordero gave Argentina a 7-0 lead. At half time New Zealand led 24-19 but would outscore Argentina by 33-3 in the second half.

6 Scotland 41-31 Argentina, Edinburgh, 2014 November Internationals
The next assignment after defeating Australia in Mendoza was taking-on Scotland in Edinburgh. Argentina entered as favorites but were poorly prepared for the fixture as Scotland were comprehensive winners. What started so well with Javier Ortega Desio scoring earlier quickly went south with Richie Gray, Jonny Gray, Sean Maitland, Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour each scoring for Scotland before Argentina would cross again. A late double from Tomás Cubelli saw Argentina losing by 10 when a loss of 25 points had appeared to be highly likely.

5 Argentina 12-30 Wales, Santa Fé, 2018 June Internationals
The final match before Daniel Hourcade resigned as Head Coach was a poor afternoon for the staff and players. Despite the teams each scoring two tries Wales were far better. Their win saw Rhys Patchell kicking six penalties which, in itself, was the difference maker. Nicolás Sánchez was erratic from the kicking-tee and in kicking from hand. A settled and confident Wales had built a 19-0 lead in the final minute of the opening half. It was insurmountable even with Bautista Delguy’s superb debut try. Julián Montoya scored late but the story of the match was one team being vastly outreached by another.

4 Argentina 9-34 Australia, Mendoza, 2015 Rugby Championship
A 25 point win from Australia in Argentina suggests that the Wallabies were far better than Los Pumas. The reality is that the game was far closer but just one side was able to convert opportunities into points. With 27 minutes remaining Australia led 11-6, underlining how the late rally giving the Wallabies a big win. Australia’s win was by four tries to zero. In his final cap Gonzalo Camacho was a stand out as he made numerous clean line-breaks. Santiago Cordero, Juan Imhoff and Juan Pablo Socino also all made breaks yet no tries would come.

3 Argentina 23-41 South Africa, Salta, 2017 Rugby Championship
Round two of the 2017 Rugby Championship saw Argentina falling to their biggest home defeat against South Africa in tournament history. Los Pumas had severe problems with their discipline which saw veteran Juan Manuel Leguziamón yellow carded and second-rower Tomás Lavanini red carded. Before the red card the match was open for the taking. The 56th incident was Argentina’s downfall as it also saw South Africa awarded a penalty try. The officiating was not to blame whatsoever. The loss was down to the team with management and players accountable.

2 Argentina 0-27 France, Tucumán, 2016 June Internationals
The writing was on the wall for Hourcade in June 2016. With the third home international of June seeing Los Pumas held scoreless by France it was clear that the Jaguares-only Pumas team would struggle to live up to the heights of the previous year. Of the starting 15 only Manuel Montero did not go to RWC 2015. Had he been fit he was a certainty for the tournament. France won by scoring three tries and being the superior team throughout. They led 10-0 at half time and went on to keep Argentina scoreless, the first French team to do so since 1949.

1 Argentina 15-44 Scotland, Resistencia, 2018 June Internationals
The final match of the Hourcade regime ranks here as the worst. Los Pumas were lost on the field and uninterested in representing their country to the best of their ability. The defense was a catastrophe with over 30 missed tackles including the usually ferocious Agustín Creevy falling off straight-forward tackles. After just 14 minutes of the match Scotland had scored three tries. They would hold a 36-3 halftime lead and were set to smash prior records. Ultimately Scotland was not the same in the second half yet in addition to appalling defense Argentina’s attacking woes were hallmark Hourcade – going sideways rather than advancing upfield.