Pumas looking vulnerable as long year ends

ARGENTINA coach Daniel Hourcade says his battered-looking forces are targeting a win against Ireland tomorrow — but couldn’t hide the wear and tear that leaves his team looking vulnerable. A second-half fightback against Italy last weekend brought a rare victory; it was only the Pumas’ second of the season, the first was against Georgia last July. Otherwise, theirs has been a tale of punishing setbacks, both in the Rugby Championship and at Twickenham two weeks ago when they were unable to capitalise on a sloppy and uninspired England performance. Hourcade named a team for the Aviva Stadium clash that shows three changes from the side that beat the Italians, but the most notable change is the absence of veteran out-half Juan Martin Hernandez. The great No 10 injured a knee against Italy and his expected failure to recover means the gifted Nicolas Sanchez is the Argentina playmaker. He will be partnered at scrum-half by Martin Landajo, and as the two most influential players on the team they will be charged with a game-plan that is expected to be tight and obdurate. Those expecting a repeat of the attacking brilliance Argentina displayed in battering Ireland on the last occasion the sides met, in the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup, should prepare to be underwhelmed. ‘We are disappointed we didn’t get an important win against any top team so it would be excellent to finish the season with a win against Ireland,’ said Hourcade (above). ‘But with Ireland it might not be so easy. They are playing well, and if you consider we play most of the year against southern hemisphere teams, it’s not enough.’ Hourcade was speaking through a translator, and that last comment appeared to indicate the challenge of trying to adapt to European tactics after spending the summer facing New Zealand and Australia. Their failures against those countries were to be expected, but two defeats against a South Africa team spiralling into mediocrity should alarm them — they lost their two Rugby Championship matches to the Springboks by a combined 40 points. The schedule they face in fulfilling away fixtures is exhausting, though, as is the itinerary their Super Rugby franchise, the Jaguares, must observe. ‘That’s probably one of the biggest problems we have. Last season, we travelled 186,000km so probably four times around the world. ‘We want the competition to play week by week and that is what we want and we are really happy about that [their inclusion in the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby]. We have only just started, two seasons, and we only have 34 professional players. ‘Our problem is not the amount of players we have, it’s the competition we have,’ he said. ‘We only have one tournament with one team so few players can develop at the top level. We would be better to be in the northern hemisphere but we are not allowed be there. ‘We need three or four teams,’ he said, finishing with a laugh that was fixed somewhere between hopeful and helpless.