<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (uli85 @ Jun 15 2009, 03:41 PM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Prestwick @ Jun 13 2009, 10:37 PM)
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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LeksoRugby @ Jun 13 2009, 11:09 PM)
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Good I did not expect Argentina to win England even with small advantage
It's surprising to me[/b]
Argentina is one of the wild frontiers of rugby (the city of Salta is in the middle of nowhere yet manages to jam a 40,000 stadium to the rafters) and is an absolute pig of a country to win in. Everyone,
everyone from the All Blacks to England to South Africa have all had to go through
hell to register wins when touring over there. Los Pumas respect nobody when you're on their turf. You could have famous tribal dances, you could have won the World Cup twice, you could have legends and what not behind your team but that all means jack when you step out in Argentina.
And thats why they are probably one of the most underated teams in World Rugby sometimes. I find it depressing when people
express shock when they win. I really do.
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Really nice words man. It's an honor -as an argentinian- to have that kind of recognition for the Pumas. And that's true, the Pumas are a hard opponent when they play in Argentina. It's a shame that they do it just 1 or 2 times by year (actually saturday match was the first time in the year that they play here, and Old Trafford game was their first match in the year).
Last saturday they played with passion just like the did during the RWC2007, that's the most important thing to me -appart of the technical improvement since Manchester game-. That's the main characteristic of our rugby. As Stillknox said, Hernandez is a bit too emotional, that's the way we argentinians are. When we are confident with ourserves we give our best and even more, but when we are in a "bad mood" don't expect a cold mind player.
Since last World Cup the world of rugby doesn't consider Argentina as a suprise anymore, and that's a big problem. People expect the Pumas to show the level they had in France 2007, and they are a bit irregular now, they could play a great match last weekend but then they could have a bad game next week against the French Barbarians. Remember that we lost a leader like Pichot, and some other great player has retired from the national team, like Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Gonzalo Longo, Ignacio Corleto, Manuel Contepomi, and Rimas Alvarez announced that next weekend match could be his last one with the Pumas jersey. So there is a lot of new players comming, but some of them haven't international experience, and even there is amateur players like Gonzalo Camacho -who recently signed for Harlequins- and shown a great level anyway. Also, as i said before, this matches against England was the first games for the Pumas this year. England played the six nations and always has his players avaible, even when some important players are in the Lions tour, they have a great team indeed. So there is no comparison.
Argentina have a lot of facts (amateur national league, almost all the Pumas players in Europe, no anual international tournament, just few days to train, etc. etc., etc...). All this things must be considered when someone thinks "ok they were in the 3rd place in the last world cup, and now what?".
[/b][/quote]
Speaking about Argentinian passion, I went to the CASi vs SIC a few weeks ago as I'm doing an internship in Buenos Aires at the moment. And man, this was the best game I ever saw. Despite the huge rivalry between those two clubs, you actually had the two groups of supporters singing together and after the game they all went to get drunk together. Amateur rugby really brings the focus on the spirit of the game and you could really sense it that night in San Isidro. And the rugby too was quality, although it doesn't have the intensity of professional clubs, you could really see that the players were giving 200% for their team.
We could all learn a lot from the country who managed to keep that spirit safe and at the same time has one of the deadliest national squads in the world. I saw a lot of young promising players that night, maybe some will be pumas one day!
:lol: 
