‘How is he a head coach?’: Stephen Larkham rips into good mate Mario Ledesma
STEVE Larkham unloaded a barrage of playful pot shots at Mario Ledesma, highlighting the Pumas boss’s multiple coaching limitations ahead of the pivotal Rugby Championship clash.
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STEVE Larkham’s playful pot shots at the coaching limitations of close friend Mario Ledesma can’t disguise how wary the Wallabies really are of Argentina’s cunning new coach and the dangerous Pumas.
The Australian assistant coach has always had a dry comic bent but he excelled on Tuesday with rapid-fire banter that Ledesma battled when at the Wallabies, wanted Tests to be 80 minutes of scrums and was using ideas copied from the Wallabies.
Los Pumas will be a major handful at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday night because they’ve tested the All Blacks for longer (46-24) than the Wallabies and beaten South Africa (32-19) far more convincingly recently.
Larkham was in danger of choking so deeply tongue-in-cheek were the gags about a much-admired figure who was embedded beside him in the Wallabies camp for more than 35 Tests (2015-17).
“No mind games with him,” Larkham said with the start of a grin.
“He was here for a couple of years as an assistant coach and, honestly, I don’t know how he’s a head coach now.
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“He struggled as an assistant.
“I don’t know what he’s going to come up with this weekend ... a fair bit of scrummagaing because that’s what he’s good at and knocking it on to get another scrum.
“I can’t see how he’s had the limited success he’s had already.”
As scrum boss, Ledesma helped guide the Wallabies to six Test wins over his beloved Pumas and head coach Michael Cheika regards him as a “coaching brother” after more than six years working together with three teams.
Was Ledesma going to hit the Wallabies with backline decoys and switch plays on attack that he’d ripped from Larkham’s Wallabies’ playbook?
“No doubt about that ... he came into a really good period of Australian rugby and he’s certainly taken away a lot stuff we did,” Larkham said with a smile.
When Larkham got serious, it was good news because he expects fullback Israel Folau (ankle) to be fit after Tuesday’s training session and the call to be made on key backrower David Pocock (neck) after he progresses through contact work this week.
“As much as we joke about it, the Argentinians are starting to play some good footy under Mario,” Larkham said.
Larkham was pleased with the formative combination of Kurtley Beale at five-eighth and Matt Toomua at inside centre against South Africa and it is sure to be continued against Argentina.
“Kurtley was very energetic when he got his hands on the ball which we’ve been trying to add for a while in attack,” Larkham said.
The resilience shown in last weekend’s 23-18 rally against the Springboks, after three late player withdrawals, was excellent and was just what the team needed.
“It was very important and after some personal attacks on players and coaches in the media,” Larkham said.
“We were all feeling the pain (of two Bledisloe Cup losses) and it was a really unifying moment for the team when we won.
“The challenge for us is that on the back of one win can we string a couple together.”
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Originally published as ‘How is he a head coach?’: Stephen Larkham rips into good mate Mario Ledesma