Daily Dispatch

We don’t have unfair advantage, says Jaguares coach

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Jaguares coach Gonzalo Quesada has described calls for the Argentinia­n franchise to be kicked out of Super Rugby as “disappoint­ing” and denied they had an unfair advantage by having the pick of Argentina’s internatio­nal players.

Wallabies great Phil Kearns this week claimed the team was a de facto national side and had “hoodwinked” governing body Sanzaar, giving Argentina an edge by regularly playing together heading into this year’s World Cup.

“This is a provincial competitio­n. Have a provincial team in it – that’s what it’s about. It’s not about having national teams

Kearns said.

Quesada told Friday’s Sydney Morning Herald it was wrong to suggest the Jaguares’ introducti­on to Super Rugby was part of a deliberate plan to strengthen the national side.

“I was being in surprised and a it,” bit disappoint­ed by those comments. What is disappoint­ing is when he says something like we cheated or we cheated to Sanzaar or there was a strategy,” he said.

“The idea was to get an Argentinia­n team to be better. We are improving year by year. “

Kearns was speaking after the Jaguares, most of them Argentina internatio­nals, beat his former team NSW Waratahs 23-15 in Sydney last weekend.

According to reports, they had more than 1,000 internatio­nal caps across their squad. –

 ??  ?? GONZALO QUESADA
GONZALO QUESADA

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