Argentina Depth in 2022 compared to the past

In 2021 Argentina played 12 test matches for a return of 3 wins, 1 draw and 8 losses. Mario Ledesma’s position as head coach was on the line; beating Italy was mandatory. The away win saw his contract extended despite the year ending with a record loss against Ireland.

Los Pumas were criticized during the Rugby Championship. One match report said Argentina weren’t good enough for long enough. The year ended with suggestions that Argentina regressed more than any other test team in 2021 and that no side took a bigger backwards step than Argentina.

Meanwhile, work in Argentina has identified front-rowers for international duty. National scrum coach, and former Puma, Andrés Bordoy named 38 names who are being monitored. They are 12 loose head props, 13 hookers and 13 tight head props. In short, it is a large player pool that suggests there are options despite 2021 results and the suggestions of Argentina as a team in crisis.

Ledesma had nine front-rowers on his roster for the 2021 November Internationals. They were split the form of three loose heads, three hookers and three tight heads. This is an indication of the size of Bordoy’s monitoring.

How does Argentina’s depth in 2022 compare to the past? Is Bordoy’s larger than normal? The first point to make is that the majority of the names in all three positions are professionals based abroad. Of those Bordoy named 9 loose head props, 7 hookers and 7 tight head props are playing in Europe. Add to this that Santiago Medrano is playing Super Rugby in Australia.

A second point is that Ledesma was the starting hooker at RWC 2007. His understudy was Alberto Vernet Basualdo who was Argentine-based at the time. The Asociación Alumni hooker started the Bronze Final. Four years later all of Argentina’s RWC front-rowers were professionals and this repeated in 2015 and 2019.

A third point is that the 2019 roster was Super Rugby centric while the 2015 roster was hybrid. Pampas XV names that would become Jaguares’ joined existing players based in Europe and players who returned in 2016 for Super Rugby. Julián Montoya and Lucas Noguera Paz were the understudies at hooker and loose head; neither had prior experience abroad.

32 players were on the most recent roster this past November. 31 of them play abroad. The one home-based player is hooker Ignacio Ruiz. He toured as third choice hooker with players including Agustín Creevy and Santiago Socino not selected.

The RWC 2011 roster provides a comparison to the prospects of the team in 2022 and with an eye to RWC 2023. Pumas across all positions from the 2007 roster were no longer in the team in 2011. There were home-based flankers, a scrum-half, a center and wingers on the 2011 roster.

Argentina’s depth is larger in 2021 than it was in 2011. This is true across the forwards and the backs. There is not a shortage of players at big clubs nor are their fewer players receiving regular game time now when compared to those who took to the field in the RWC Semi Final campaigns in 2007 and 2015.

Horacio Agulla was Buenos Aires based when he started against South Africa in Paris in 2007. José Maria Nuñez Piossek missed the tournament through injury. Compare that to November 2021 when Juan Imhoff was not on the roster, Santiago Cordero was a late call-up and Santiago Carreras was playing fly half.

Bordoy’s identified players raises the point of who would be the names across other positions. I will attempt to answer this in part rather than in full. I do so below by identifying players across all positions into five sample teams.

The table demonstrates (a) that Argentina’s depth in 2022 compared to the past is not the primary factor that accounts for the lack of results in 2021 and (b) that Argentina has the means to improve to be a more competitive team before and at RWC 2023. Just 5 of the 75 players are presently based in Argentina.

*Based in Argentina