It's hard to find the moment to think about this as seriously as possible (I mean, come on, it's a sport), and then to actually write it up. Thing is… I haven't read anything to make me think anyone is depicting this thing in its entirety, how big an accomplishment this is, what it means to Argentinean rugby in general, how it projects over the next ten years of rugby and a lot of other stuff.
-So, in terms of super rugby alone: apparently, the jaguares are the first franchise to ever make a final in the first five years of its existence or so I have read in the roar. Well, I'm guessing some people will argue and quite convincingly I might add that none other franchise has been allowed to basically recreate their national team in a SR franchise. At any rate, that is a fact. But, to this fact I might also pose a couple of three things (Phil Leotardo sic): first, it took four years to make jaguares work in sync with Pumas; in fact, it hasn't been proven that they have succeeded in such enterprise. Pumas, from last round of internationals to this SR have been playing consistently worse: results from 2015 have been disappointing for the pumas, something no one would expect based on the last WC. There are many reasons for that, but certainly SR has been one of the most prominent. Second, and I think probably the strongest point in favor of Pumaguares (Imma use that name forever and ever goddamit) is that it was a necessity, a structural necessity: UAR needed to secure the best Argentinean players available and to do that you needed to create a rule to ban any superstar playing overseas. To those players who sacrificed four years, three years of huge income: we're forever thankful. I'm thinking about Creevy, Sánchez, and the whole lot. Those who did not: it's understandable (thinking about Imhoff here). There was no choice from the beginning, in order to be successful, pumaguares had to be pumas. Third: having the best players available does not mean immediate success; there's plenty of examples out there, when AB's have been the best team at WC but haven't won the tournament, when in other sports dream teams (Lakers, Real Madrid et al) have fallen short… my point being: in order for a project to be successful, something else apart from counting with the best players is needed: it's false that Pumaguares wins because they're the Pumas under disguise. There are many other factors in which pumaguares are exemplary and I don't mean the coach. I mean staff, everything around these guys. The staff for both teams is not exactly the same.
So Jaguares is successful as a whole structure, and as a structure it deserves to be praised, if only because they are some of the 67 people who have finished Netflix.
-For Argentina as a rugby country. Best thing about this miracle is that it is not a miracle at all. For anyone who has followed Argentinean rugby since 2008, this thing has been coming all along. Ever since PladAr started working and we've had this players becoming pro-like younger and younger, I thought we were onto something. I remember being real young, like 15, and hearing Felipe Contepomi saying back in '07 that rough years were to come to Argentinean rugby fans, but that eventually we would have redemption and happiness and SR quarterfinals and maybe even more; it would cost ten years and nothing would seem to change, but it would pay off. To me, ten years seemed like a huge amount of time you know being 16, but twelve years have passed and here we are. I am a lot older than I was, Felipe Contepomi is even balder than he was (if that's even possible) and as it turns out, he was right. Juani Hernández's career has gone by, he was 23 in '07 and it seemed like he was gonna be the new Hugo Porta; we all know how that turned out. In the meantime, something that was pretty obvious but nobody was actually counting on has become a reality: professional infrastructure. It will always be easier to create and promote a structure that encourages proper professional players than to wait another super duper talented generation of guys; given the right infrastructure and support, rugby being an activity that encourages personal and group discipline above else needs players that know how to handle themselves and live a life of full professionalism: diet, sleeping, fitness, discipline in general. Then you bring that onto the field, and then we all win. It's taken twelve years but it has paid off. You can actually see it in pumaguares when older players mix up with younger ones: the difference, the way they conduct themselves, how they train even. First time I thought about this was JWC 2011: Montero, Hernández's and Cordero's generation. Almost every year we have come with new and better players, wait till you see Mendy next year. That is a whole new structure, producing results barely ten years after its creation. Institutionally, it's a huge step for any Argentinean product. Hard to explain how big. Something Argentinean works, something that requires people and politics and cooperation.
Apart from that, I think Pumaguares has proven that there's plenty of potential in argie rugby yet to be unveiled: each year we have lost an important player, and each year we have improved. We thought we couldn't exist as a team without Sánchez, and we're heading to our first SR final. We thought we couldn't lose Isa, Herrera, and Cordero… but we can, we just did. Now what? This year we'll lose Lavanini, Bofelli, Landajo (at least, goddamit), and we'll have to make do. We'll be even more competitive, I bet. This is crucial: an institution changes people, not the institution. Berlin's philharmonic changes violinists, harpists, even directors every year, but they still are Berlin's philharmonic, and it has been for two hundred years and it will continue to be for many more. Let them go to Europe: pumaguares will stand. At this point I have to say Agustin Cereevy is a national treasure, he stayed all this time and it seems he will continue to stay here for us. My point being: if we want to keep Jaguares successful, always take jaguares above stars: the whole is much more than just the sum of its parts.
-to RW (Rugby World Rugby World Cup). The addition of Argentina to the tier 1 is an unmitigated success. The truth is that rugby keeps spinning with cycles of either glory or indifference for any of the top 8 teams in the world (NZ, SA, AUS, ENG, IRE, WAL, SCO, FRA), and it has been like that for 100 years or so. In fact, in NZ is the most outstanding team in history of sport (together with US's basketball team) maybe because they are always ahead of the rest, but they have made a habit of it: most of countries have to pull off extraordinary generations of players to defeat the AB's, and that's been the state of affairs for more than 20 years: first, Australia won two championships, almost three, then England, then SA won another two… but now it looks like NZ has managed to gain a ridiculous advantage and no one seems to be able to get a hold on them. Even Ireland, and I'm counting on them to win this RWC. Maybe France will pull it off. I hope France wins this year, that would be awesome. Ireland would be awesome too. Please win, just nobody from the traditional foursome we already know. But then, Argentina being actually good brings a nice balance, a nice possibility to the table: suddenly we have nine teams that are capable of winning the WC, and life seems prettier. Not that boring, at least. WR need a strong Argentinean team to keep the illusion that this is a competitive sport for real and not a charade these slippery New Zealanders have created to make themselves look good (I'm joking people, you guys are ok). Also, from now on we could start to make Rugby Championship look better: if we manage to start defeating NZ, then things could get a lot more entertaining in the future. And then there's the matter of WR as a global structure: much of the work being done in Argentina is thanks to the support from World Rugby as a whole and their work; Argentina's success proves that world rugby is actually efficient every once in a while and that other countries could improve as much as ARG if given the chance.
That kinda sums it all up; also I'm tired of writing. Thanks for reading people.
Cheers.
yeah I used this post twice; bite me.
