Super Rugby ‘hoodwinked’ by Argentina, says Wallabies greats

The right questions are finally being asked about Super Rugby’s most controversial outfit after a Wallabies great’s call for their exclusion.

It’s hard to know who is who.

Wallabies star Rob Simmons’ comment last week that Argentina’s Super Rugby franchise, the Jaguares, is “basically a Test match team” has hit a little too close to home.

In the wake of the Waratahs’ 23-15 loss against the Jaguares at Sydney’s Bankwest Stadium over the weekend, the right questions about the South Americans are finally being asked.

Sitting two games clear on top of Super Rugby’s South African conference with the third best record in all of Super Rugby, it has never been clearer that SANZAAR created a monster when it included the Jaguares into a supposed provincial rugby competitions.

Australia, New Zealand and South African teams wanted the new revenue streams that came with the inclusion of the Jaguares and Japanese Sunwolves — but they didn’t want to give up anything in return. It seems they were all deceived as to the true potential of a franchise based in Buenos Aires.

Of course none of them could have predicted the Jaguares’ ability to run the franchise as the Argentinian national side, just in different colours.

Argentina had 13 capped Pumas in their run-on side against the Tahs — it’s getting easier and easier to work out why the NSW side has never beaten the Jaguares.

“They’re basically a Test match team,” Simmons said.

“So, that’s how we have to play, like a Test match.”

Wallabies great Phil Kearns was even more brutal in his assessment.

The Jaguares put a move on SANZAAR.

Kearns says Argentina has essentially been able to keep the bulk of its national team together in the same club side for the past three years — by piling them all together at the Jaguares in a dream preparation for this year’s World Cup.

“It’s not about having national teams being in it,” Kearns told Fox Sports of Argentina stacking one provincial team with its national players.

“I think Argentina have been incredibly smart and have hoodwinked the rest of SANZAAR because they’re going to have a magnificent World Cup team there’s no doubt about it — they’ve played together for the last three years.”

He said they shouldn’t be allowed to be in the competition while continuing to select the majority of the Argentinean national team.

“They’re the national team,” Kearns said.

“They shouldn’t even be in the comp.

“If you want national teams put them in a comp. But they are a national team.”

Kearns was earlier joined by Wallabies legend Mark Ella in calling for the Jaguares to be forced to compete with a team from its own region.

“When the Tri Nations and Super Rugby kicked off in 1996 following the advent of professionalism the previous year, the physical demands of a competition combining Australasia and South Africa were challenging enough,” Ella wrote for the Weekend Australian.

“But when SANZAR became SANZAAR with the admission of Argentina the travel burden became ridiculous. The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby now circle the globe and are played on every continent in the southern hemisphere. No other sporting teams in any competition anywhere in the world endure the epic road trips of southern hemisphere rugby nations.

The Jaguares and Pumas are hard to tell apart.

“In Super Rugby, the Jaguares play in the South African conference, their nearest neighbour, yet it is still 8000 kilometres from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg. It just adds to the sense that Argentina are not where they belong.”

Argentina on Sunday night included just five European-based players in their provisional 46-man squad for this year’s rugby World Cup in Japan.

Coach Mario Ledesma announced Juan Figallo (Saracens) Nicolas Sanchez (France) and Ramiro Herrera (Stade Francais), Facundo Isa (Toulon) and Benjamin Urdapilleta (Castres) will be his only players from European based clubs.

“We think they will bring something extra in addition to the players we have here,” Ledesma said on Saturday.

Their inclusion marks a move away from the recent policy of selecting almost exclusively home-based players for Argentina’s national squad. Many of the squad play for the Jaguares, Argentina’s team in the Super Rugby tournament.

— with AFP

Originally published as Super Rugby ‘hoodwinked’ by Argentina, says Wallabies greats