Focused Pumas on the hunt for improvement,

THE most striking aspect of Argentina’s training session is that after the usual 10 minutes of vision access, in which photographers and television crews are free to video what they like, the assembled group of Argentinian and Irish journalists are allowed to remain in situ and watch the intense session that lasts just over two hours.

Perhaps this is the norm around the world, but in Ireland it is very much a closed shop.

Even in his first few months in the job, head coach Mario Ledesma cuts a laid-back figure as he laughs and jokes with everyone around him without any fear of prying eyes.

Felipe Contepomi is one of the interested spectators at the session, which is held in Wanderers RFC. The Pumas legend is greeted like a god by each of the players and the travelling press corps.

Covering Argentina is a breath of fresh air and that they have arrived in Dublin on the back of yet another extremely long season with the same sense of openness is welcome.

A frustrated Marcos Kremer stands on the sideline. The 21-year-old is the only player not training. Later we are informed that the flanker is about to return home for personal reasons.

Between the Super Rugby outfit the Jaguares and the national team, the Pumas’ schedule lasts a staggering 340 days a year.

Roughly five European-based players, including Racing winger Juan Imhoff and Stade tight-head Ramiro Herrera, are expected to link up with the squad next year ahead of the World Cup as the union relax their selection policy.

The introduction of the Jaguares has been a success. This season they won nine of their 16 Super Rugby games to finish seventh of 15 in the overall standings.

It means that Ledesma (below, with Contepomi) has a plethora of young players coming through, including the likes of Guido Petti (23), Bautista Delguy (21) and Emiliano Boffelli (23), who are all based at home.

Petti insists: “Staying in Argentina is a good thing.

“It makes the team more united. We have a lot of time together. That makes us know each other a bit better. Before we were gathering from different parts of the world and trying to learn the ideas. Now we are together from the very first day of the year, so that is an advantage for us. It’s nice now too playing in Europe.

“We know they play different, we know the scrum here is maybe more important, they make larger scrums. There are pros and cons. “We (Jaguares) are getting better, every year getting better. I don’t know if we are the best or the eighth or the 16th but I know the team is getting better every year and we all notice that. We are working and we will keep working on that.” A lot of focus has been on the Pumas’ scrum. It hasn’t been the same weapon in recent years, which is one of the main reasons why Ledesma, a powerful scrummager in his time as a player, was brought in.

Yesterday’s session concluded with the backs hitting the showers early, while the pack were drilled on the scrum machine.

Inside the squad there is a realisation that people are questioning their set-piece, which is why they are out to make a big statement against Ireland’s formidable pack.

“I think we are improving,” Petti says. “Maybe it was not the best year for us, we had a lot of difficulties but we are getting better.

“We are getting used to it and I think all of us are clear on what we have to do, so it’s a matter of doing what we say.

“I know the Argentine scrum is known since the ‘60s. Maybe there are some ups and downs, but we are good and I think every match is a new match, so we have to forget about what maybe happened in the Rugby Championship,