• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

Pichot "forces" the Pumas to join the SR in 2016

That would make sense... I watched some video interviews with Pichot a couple of months ago.

I'd imagine they'd let people playing for Union owned sides player for the Pumas based on what he was saying.
 
Did I read it wrong or did it also say anyone playing for any of the Super 15 teams.

So hernandez playing for the sharks a few years ago would have been eligible.

Yeah that is correct, but I don't think that would expand the pool that much, maybe a couple to a handful of guys would get into other Super Rugby clubs. I suppose it would help but the elephant in the room of the European clubs is still there.

I have to agree with Draggs' points the Argentine setup shouldn't do this until there are at least two teams in SR out of there country, or the lower tiers of Argentine rugby become professional, though both seem to be someway off if they ever happen.
 
Drawing all national squad players from one team is a terrible idea. Super Rugby will give them what, 18 matches? They will either have to do heavy rotation or be prepared to pick a national side with just over 20 fit players.

Top players like Fernandez Lobbe or Marcos Ayerza could play in others Super Rugby franchises:

* It seems it will not be place for foreign players in the franchise, but some argentine player in other southern team could be part of the Pumas.

Can I ask, what is Plar? I've seen it mentioned in connection with young Argentinian rugby players a lot, it seems to be something to do with young player development? Is it a training centre or something, or a national coaching setup?

Yeah, it's a high performance center. The UAR selects the best players in the country and they get special treatment, are trained as professionals in high performance centers and even have a small salary, but a salary is a salary. It's a select group of Argentine players, those not yet reached a contract in Europe but have the potential to achieve it.

Then the Pladar is a bridge between a young player with great potential and his first European contract. Now is the link between youth players and Super Rugby.
 
Last edited:
Even with the other Super Rugby franchises as eligible that's still a small pool, a few Pumas are definitely good enough to make other sides but seeing as most Soup franchises aren't willing/able to have more than 2-3 capped foreign players I can't see it being a replacement for a whole other team in Argentina or the European spots.

So we've got the starting 23, maybe a few fringe guys rotated in for maybe 30-32 guys and maybe a handful of guys playing in other SR teams, that's only a pool of like 30-37 guys, and that might be generous along with some of those fringe guys seeing limited minutes.
 


There are some players, like Corcho (Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, former captain of Los Pumas) which already warned that they will not be"extended Pichot. Marcos Ayerza is another that already stretched its link in England and will not be in the franchise, so it would be outside of the selected when you begin this rule in 2016.

It is an agreed fact that the player will have to play in the franchise to play in Los Pumas, because the goal is to retain them." They would not play in the selected who are in Super Rugby teams.



NOTA DE ESPN RUGBY

"La franquicia en el Super Rugby será 100 por ciento de la UAR"

BUENOS AIRES -- "No va a haber capitales privados. Conseguimos más del mínimo que pretendíamos por derechos de televisación: la franquicia en el Super Rugby será del rugby argentino", comunicó Agustín Pichot en conferencia de prensa junto al presidente y el secretario de la UAR, Carlos Araujo y Fernando Rizzi. En un hotel del centro porteño se realizó un cónclave en el que la franquicia argentina estuvo en el centro de las consultas.

El ex capitán de Los Pumas, hoy en carácter de representante argentino en World Rugby y SANZAR, agregó que "tomamos parámetros de los tres países del sur. Ellos lo tienen en cinco equipos. Optimizan sus recursos. El modelo tomado es similar al de Nueva Zelanda. Va a ser centralizado y cada uno jugará cualquier competencia que la UAR decida: Jaguares, Los Pumas y Argentina A (lo que hoy sería Pampas). Pero todo es bien argentino, nadie nos impuso un modelo".

Además hizo hincapié en la cantidad de jugadores a contratar. "El número de jugadores es experimental. Si contratás 90 muchos te quedan colgados, y no queremos eso. Ya la transición terminó, no queremos más contratados en el rugby de desarrollo. Será una decisión del rugby argentino si el contratado vuelve al rugby local. Y si la UAR lo deja", sostuvo.

Fernando Rizzi expresó que la UAR se "está reestructurando y hay una nueva área de recursos humanos. Se logró un dinero con el que se va a empezar una negociación con un grupo antes de fines de diciembre. Y con otros en febrero. Es para la franquicia y para que estén contratados y disponibles en 2015. Serán entre 35 y 45 para el 2016, aunque primero van a ser 24. Tendrán contratos individuales, y a través de la UAR", explicó. Además el secretario de la Unión agregó que "a partir del 2016 y con un mínimo asegurado de cinco años, de acuerdo a los contratos que unen a todas las uniones, la UAR se incorporará como parte integrante del joint-venture entre Nueva Zelanda, Australia y Sudáfrica". Esto significa que Argentina formará parte del Consejo de Administración con dos representantes, al igual que las tres uniones.

Otro de los puntos a los que se refirió fue a la elección de los nombres, que estará centrada en la decisión del head coach de Los Pumas. "La injerencia va a ser total del entrenador del Seleccionado mayor en la conformación del plantel de la franquicia. Ya se juntaron e hicieron la lista. Todo esto se habló con los jugadores. A los que están en Europa se les pidió con tiempo que pongan en su contrato la rescisión por este motivo. Hay algunos jugadores, como Corcho (Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, ex capitán de Los Pumas) que ya avisaron que no van a estar", amplió Pichot. Marcos Ayerza es otro que ya estiró su vínculo en Inglaterra y no estará en la franquicia, así que quedaría afuera del seleccionado cuando comience esta regla en 2016.

También, el sitio en el que se desarrollarán los partidos estuvo entre los temas explicados. "No es un tema político jugar en Buenos Aires. La principal cuestión que sale en las discusiones en las reuniones de World Rugby es el cansancio de los jugadores. En Europa juegan casi 35 fechas, tienen pocas semanas de descanso. El Sur, por su parte, tiene los viajes. Se pasa de un Super Rugby de 15 a 18 equipos porque los sudafricanos no querían viajar más. Los mata ir a Australia y Nueva Zelanda", aseguró Pichot.

En el evento estuvo Juan Sebastián Verón, presidente de Estudiantes y de buena relación con Pichot. "La Bruja ofreció el estadio que están construyendo para que juegue la franquicia", confesó el dirigente. También se analizan opciones en Zona Norte y Sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Sobre un futuro centro de Alto Rendimiento, la UAR sigue trabajando para conseguir un espacio adecuado, pero todavía no hay nada cerrado.

A su vez Carlos Araujo agregó que "se contratará por 12 meses a los jugadores, y pueden firmar por tres años. Los que jueguen los partidos de Los Pumas tendrán premios aparte. En los tests de Los Pumas cobrarán todos iguales. No tienen premios por ganar. Con la camiseta argentina sobra la motivación. además, es un hecho acordado que el jugador va a tener que jugar en la franquicia para jugar en Los Pumas, porque el objetivo es retenerlos". Tampoco jugarían en el seleccionado los que estén en otros equipos del Super Rugby.

Se habló de la posibilidad de sumar extranjeros a la franquicia, por una recomendación de SANZAR, pero aún la UAR no tomó una decisión al respecto, aunque no es del gusto de la actual comisión directiva. Tampco está definido el nombre del equipo, algo que quedará para el próximo año, junto con la imagen de la franquicia, en la que ya están trabajando tres empresas de marketing.

Con el Mundial por delante, Pichot adelantó que no se viajará a Pensacola en 2015. Y que el trabajo para la Copa del Mundo 2015 empezará con el Rugby Championship. "Es una postura correcta de Hourcade", dijo el ex 9. Y agregó: "Este año es el peor de todos por calendario. Pedimos atrasar el inicio del Championship pero no se pudo".
 
Last edited:
All their moves makes sense and I think is actually clever going forward.

For all the benefit the Top 14 has done for Argentina rugby (and it is huge in many ways) - the fact that clubs have prevented Argentina to have all their best players available during international windows (meaning the June series results in Argentina regularly getting destroyed and moving down the rankings) - means I think recruiting purely from one competition that guarantees releases around international rugby is very good. Part of them getting the contract was guaranteeing their best players would play Super Rugby, so they didn't really have much choice regardless.

In terms of recruiting from one team - hopefully that actually will not be the case. They can recruit from any Super Rugby team. As it currently stands that means quite little - however if Top Argentinian players are willing to take less money than in the Top 14 - there is no reason why we won't see more players being picked up by NZ, South African - and particularly Australian sides who are lacking in depth significantly. Also it is not unreasonable to suspect the Japanese franchise to want to bolster their squad and pay a lot for a proven international (an Argentinian prop certainly wouldn't hurt Japan...). So in the long run I think the issue of depth will resolve itself. I believe they will still be able to recruit domestically and since they are running their own franchise they can transition amateur local talent into professional ranks far more efficiently.
 
All their moves makes sense and I think is actually clever going forward.

For all the benefit the Top 14 has done for Argentina rugby (and it is huge in many ways) - the fact that clubs have prevented Argentina to have all their best players available during international windows (meaning the June series results in Argentina regularly getting destroyed and moving down the rankings) - means I think recruiting purely from one competition that guarantees releases around international rugby is very good. Part of them getting the contract was guaranteeing their best players would play Super Rugby, so they didn't really have much choice regardless.

In terms of recruiting from one team - hopefully that actually will not be the case. They can recruit from any Super Rugby team. As it currently stands that means quite little - however if Top Argentinian players are willing to take less money than in the Top 14 - there is no reason why we won't see more players being picked up by NZ, South African - and particularly Australian sides who are lacking in depth significantly. Also it is not unreasonable to suspect the Japanese franchise to want to bolster their squad and pay a lot for a proven international (an Argentinian prop certainly wouldn't hurt Japan...). So in the long run I think the issue of depth will resolve itself. I believe they will still be able to recruit domestically and since they are running their own franchise they can transition amateur local talent into professional ranks far more efficiently.

Firstly UAR themselves agreed to that June arrangement, secondly other teams would only recruit a tiny amount of players, I would rate the chances of Argentines in a Japanese team very slim.

Frankly this is one of the most hair brained ideas I've seen for a long while, for the reasons outlined by others above. No precedent to a top level international side limiting themselves to one team. French teams seeing value in a non international player will bid more, and they will be hard pushed to outbid them for all, the Pumas don't have the depth SANZAR has to cope with losses to key players. Ayerza, Lobbe, Lavannini, Agulla and Imhoff are all players already contracted beyond the World Cup as well, I guess they can scratch them all out of their plans.
 
Firstly UAR themselves agreed to that June arrangement, secondly other teams would only recruit a tiny amount of players, I would rate the chances of Argentines in a Japanese team very slim.

Frankly this is one of the most hair brained ideas I've seen for a long while, for the reasons outlined by others above. No precedent to a top level international side limiting themselves to one team. French teams seeing value in a non international player will bid more, and they will be hard pushed to outbid them for all, the Pumas don't have the depth SANZAR has to cope with losses to key players. Ayerza, Lobbe, Lavannini, Agulla and Imhoff are all players already contracted beyond the World Cup as well, I guess they can scratch them all out of their plans.

I know they agreed to the June agreement - I didn't say they were forced into it (other than a lack of other options). However by making this move they are ensuring that players will always be available to the national team - and so aren't guaranteed a thrashing by Soctland in June with their B-team players, to then get hit again come the Rugby Championship.

Of the players you mentioned only Imhoff and Lavannini are under 30. Ayerza probably has another four years or so in him - but as great as Lobbe is he is already 33. Come 2016, he'll be 35. Agulla is also in his 30s and probably not so vital to Argentina. It is true that French clubs may bid more for players who won't play overseas - however I'm not convinced limiting national selection has resulted in more players in England playing in France, so I'm not convinced it would be the same for Argentina. Remembering it is one competition and not one team - of which plenty of teams do the same. Of course they only currently have one team in that competition - so I guess we'll have to wait and see how many other SR teams will sign Argentine talent. We know Montero was already trying to be signed by Western Force.

I would certainly not be surprised to see the Southern Kings also look to pick up a bunch of Argentine players as they certainly don't have the depth to support themselves. They already have had Nicolas Vergallo and Tomas Leonardi.
 
Last edited:
Firstly UAR themselves agreed to that June arrangement, secondly other teams would only recruit a tiny amount of players, I would rate the chances of Argentines in a Japanese team very slim.

Frankly this is one of the most hair brained ideas I've seen for a long while, for the reasons outlined by others above. No precedent to a top level international side limiting themselves to one team. French teams seeing value in a non international player will bid more, and they will be hard pushed to outbid them for all, the Pumas don't have the depth SANZAR has to cope with losses to key players. Ayerza, Lobbe, Lavannini, Agulla and Imhoff are all players already contracted beyond the World Cup as well, I guess they can scratch them all out of their plans.

I think this actually has the possibility of being amongst the dumbest decisions in the history of International rugby it's so unbelievably short sighted. I have ZERO confidence in any of the other SR sides to sign Argentine players and I think it would be a miracle if even five other Pumas were on the rest of the 17 teams in the competition.
 
I know they agreed to the June agreement - I didn't say they were forced into it (other than a lack of other options). However by making this move they are ensuring that players will always be available to the national team - and so aren't guaranteed a thrashing by Soctland in June with their B-team players, to then get hit again come the Rugby Championship.

Of the players you mentioned only Imhoff and Lavannini are under 30. Ayerza probably has another four years or so in him - but as great as Lobbe is he is already 33. Come 2016, he'll be 35. Agulla is also in his 30s and probably not so vital to Argentina. It is true that French clubs may bid more for players who won't play overseas - however I'm not convinced limiting national selection has resulted in more players in England playing in France, so I'm not convinced it would be the same for Argentina. Remembering it is one competition and not one team - of which plenty of teams do the same. Of course they only currently have one team in that competition - so I guess we'll have to wait and see how many other SR teams will sign Argentine talent. We know Montero was already trying to be signed by Western Force.

I would certainly not be surprised to see the Southern Kings also look to pick up a bunch of Argentine players as they certainly don't have the depth to support themselves. They already have had Nicolas Vergallo and Tomas Leonardi.

All the players are currently available in IRB windows, the just chose that option so not to many lost contracts. They lost by 2 points against Scotland with a late penalty in June by the way, you're mixing that up with the November fixture.

England isn't comparable. They have 12 top flight teams and significantly more money to keep them with a good living. The other SR teams will only sign a pinchful of Argentines, you will may be able to count them on one hand. By the way, Vergallo and Leonardi lost their place in the Pumas squad altogether after they barely ever played at the Kings with overseas restrictions, that's not going to work.

There is lots wrong with this. Say for example the fourth choice fly half for example, he can't quite crack the top spot in Argentina but is good enough for a lower league Top 14 side (like Urdapilleta, Socino or Mieres for instance), but when there are a few of injuries he would need to be called upon. Can we really expect that player to stick getting paid barely anything in amateur rugby, or go for a solid Top 14 contract? An injury crisis (of what there are many) could leave them with some rank 10th choice amateur.

This is a ridiculous attempt to force players back which has large scope to backfire badly. Argentina said they didn't have the money for a second team, I have doubts as to whether they will outbid the big European teams for all players as well especially once the novelty wears off.

I think this actually has the possibility of being amongst the dumbest decisions in the history of International rugby it's so unbelievably short sighted. I have ZERO confidence in any of the other SR sides to sign Argentine players and I think it would be a miracle if even five other Pumas were on the rest of the 17 teams in the competition.

I assume nobody told them the Top 14 recently signed a huge TV deal to increase their money, along with added Champions Cup money.
 
Last edited:
Well you're points are very valid PD. I guess much of it hinges on SR picking up more Argentine players. As I have mentioned I think there is a lot of room for this to happen, particularly as there are franchises very short on depth with the expansion. It's definitely a case putting all their eggs in one basket, but it seems that the UAR's vision of growth does not include the Top 14, and I can see possible reasons for it. I wonder whether other franchises have given assurances to add more Argentine talent.
 
Well you're points are very valid PD. I guess much of it hinges on SR picking up more Argentine players. As I have mentioned I think there is a lot of room for this to happen, particularly as there are franchises very short on depth with the expansion. It's definitely a case putting all their eggs in one basket, but it seems that the UAR's vision of growth does not include the Top 14, and I can see possible reasons for it. I wonder whether other franchises have given assurances to add more Argentine talent.

Highly unlikely, all SANZAR has tight restrictions on foreign players, with Australia having a project player type system, and it's only one extra SANZAR team anyway. There's been very little market in Argentines in any of the other SR teams, and that will unlikely change. The one time a team had more than 1 in a squad was the Kings with Vergallo and Leonardi, the latter only played 22 minutes all season for them with restrictions hampering any chance for him to actually play. No NZ teams would want that type of player. Also I think Matera might be on that list of contracted players beyond the World Cup as well by the way, he signed a contract last summer.
 
Honestly, I think this is such a silly idea, for the time being, if Argentina can support two franchises in Super Rugby then I could understand it. I honestly don't get why the reason for this is at this point in time. My guess is that they want to guarantee a competitive franchise in the comp, but do they really believe all their top players would come back and this point in time? Get up to two viable franchises then make this kind of edict. I just don't get it.
 
Agree with Draggs. Imagine if you did the same with Wales, just having one professional team to draw players from. Lydiate-Warburton-Faletau would start. Tipuric would make the bench. The rest would play amateur rugby. Hardly a position from which to try and break into the Argentina super rugby squad and national team.

It just doesn't work because without a few more clubs, players who are out of the XV have no options of places to move in order to seek first class rugby.

Allowing players to go overseas frees up spots for the next generation of talent. They're shooting themselves in the foot by not letting this talent emerge.

I don't know about rotation levels in Super Rugby, but I can safely say that in a NH context this would be notable over-exaggeration. There are simply too many games and injuries to keep playing the same four players constantly. They either have to be rested, or will break and take their rest that way. Look at Leinster; they have five Irish international flankers, yet due to various reasons were able to find enough gametime to provide a platform for Dominic Ryan to become the sixth this autumn, all without having a notable backlog of players. Or Ulster, who have four Irish international centres, yet have only briefly had more than two of those fit at any one time this season. Or look at the way Bath had to play an academy lock at 8 against Toulouse, or the lock situation at Leicester.

Which hopefully won't be taken for arguing the opposite direction. There are huge problems for any international side trying to source a side off of one professional team, because I share the belief of others that Argentines are going to struggle to find berths elsewhere in Super Rugby. I think this is an incredibly reckless idea. But everywhere you look in rugby, you see teams using their full squad time and time again. The idea that this Argentine team would be any different is, well, I can't see the logic, put it that way.
 
The more I think about this new Argentine system the more I am convinced it is a bad idea, and that it will have negative (possibly even catastrophic) effects on Argentinian rugby. I can understand why this new system is seen as desirable, the advantages in terms of development of the game and commercial viability are obvious. However, what terrifies me about it is how complete the change will be, how it will overthrow everything about how Argentinian rugby currently works â€" I think people are forgetting that there is a lot of good inherent in the current Argentinian “system†for developing world-class players. (I say “system†in inverted commas because it is not a specifically designed-for-purpose system like the new proposals; however it is a “system†in the sense that it does exist and does fulfil a purpose.) I don't know or understand how this “system†works in detail, but as I understand it, it essentially it consists of an amateur national structure, Plar tasked with identifying and developing young players (thanks for the explanation @Conrad Smith), with a view towards players getting contracts with European clubs, who can develop and improve them. Then they come back to Argentina to form the national side. So the process is:

amateur â€"> Plar â€"> European professional â€"> international (although I appreciate sometimes the international comes before the European professional stage).

The current situation has arisen haphazardly and has many disadvantages compared to the better-organised English or South African (just two examples) systems, however I would argue that for what it is, it is actually phenomenally good. There is and never has been a professional structure in Argentina, yet the country produces a steady stream of world-class players and a national side which is always competitive with the majority of the Tier 1 teams. No professional structure at all; yet the national team has come third in a World Cup, and in the last twelve months along has beaten Australia, run South Africa agonisingly close and beaten the French in Paris. With no disrespect to either country, both Scotland and Italy are integrated into a professional system for identification and development of players to play against and alongside top professionals every week, and they cannot boast that record. Regardless of it's undoubted faults, the current “system†(the cornerstone of which is players leaving Argentina to learn their trade elsewhere) obviously has something incredible in its favour.

I strongly believe that throwing all of this out for an untested system is potential suicide. Both systems have obvious flaws which can be pointed out. They also both have benefits. However, the key difference is that the benefits of the old “system†have been tested in the real world and demonstrated to be undeniably true, and to outweigh the flaws by some distance. The benefits of the new system are at this stage theoretical, and I can't help but be terrified at the prospect of throwing away all those known benefits in favour of some other (not even demonstrably greater) benefits which we hope will come about if everything goes according to plan. The fact is, in life and rugby, most things don't go according to plan and Argentina seem to be risking everything on things going to plan on this occasion.

Now, I understand this can sound like an argument against change of any kind â€" what we have works, let's play it safe and stay where we are rather than risk problems - after all, my logic could be used to oppose any change in any circumstances ever. I absolutely am not making that argument, of course I believe that risks have to be taken in order to develop and improve. What I am saying is mitigate the risks, and make sure we keep the good parts of what we have already, don't jump headfirst into a completely new way of doing things and just hope like hell. There seems to be no protection built into the proposed system â€" if it doesn't work, in short, Argentinian rugby will have lost everything it relied on and replaced it with nothing. I am not an expert and cannot suggest a new system which will work; however in principle I can say that any new system must incorporate the current strength that European professional contracts gives Argentina â€" I'm not just talking about the players already there, I'm including the possibility of currently unknown young players following the established route. We've seen that it works, so use it.

If this is seen to have negative effects long-term (which I understand), plan to phase it out long-term. Look to overcome this problem gradually, as the SR franchise grows and grows, rather than doing it suddenly, unexpectedly and all at once. Hopefully this will work; if at any point it becomes clear that it is not working then you have the flexibility to change it to make it work better, or to cancel it and accept that the old way works better in this regard. Whatever happens, slow development gives you flexibility and control.

I'm sure there are many Argentinians on this thread for whom English is not their first language (sorry, by the way, if any of my post is not well expressed and difficult to understand … ) - we have an expression in English which perfectly expresses how I feel about this situation: “Don't throw the baby out with the bath water†- that is, when you must remove something bad or unnecessary, be careful not to remove the good things at the same time. I'm sure there is an equivalent in Spanish, but either way I hope my message is clear.

I apologise for the length of this post … once I'd started, it kind of took on a life of its own! I hope it makes sense, if not I apologise and can clarify. I just really care about Argentinian rugby, I consider them my second international rugby team, and I really do not want to see them **** up what they already have.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I remember having heard Hourcade say that, except cases as Lobbe and Ayerza, other players from the Pumas were signing contracts with European clubs including termination clause in case of being invited to play in the new argentina SR franchise.
Have some follower of these European teams heard that version? Is it possible to sign a contract with a clause like that?
 
Even with the other Super Rugby franchises as eligible that's still a small pool, a few Pumas are definitely good enough to make other sides but seeing as most Soup franchises aren't willing/able to have more than 2-3 capped foreign players I can't see it being a replacement for a whole other team in Argentina or the European spots.

So we've got the starting 23, maybe a few fringe guys rotated in for maybe 30-32 guys and maybe a handful of guys playing in other SR teams, that's only a pool of like 30-37 guys, and that might be generous along with some of those fringe guys seeing limited minutes.

I think 2 teams would be too risky for the first step of the UAR in professional rugby. Remember that even Australia isn't able to have 5 full teams by Aussie players. Even in this forum many users have complained that the 5 Aussie franchises has been a step backward for the ARU, as they have to hire foreign players, mainly Rebels and Force.

Most of our top players will have more than 30 years in 2016, so it's logical that most of them would prefer a higher retirement in Europe. Our franchise will have about 40 players involved or more, if we consider injuries, also we have the Pumitas (Argentina Under 20), which has a professional treatment, because most of the kids are part of PLADAR, and we have Argentina A (Jaguars), competing in tournaments of Tier 2 against Canada & USA, and different tournaments around the world as the Pacific Cup this year. so it's deep enough for the amount of top class players we have, we don't have 800 top class players, so start with 2 Super Rugby franchises would be ridiculous.

Some people complain about everything, before they complained because we weren't professionals. Now we are walking our first steps at the club level professionalism with our own Super Rugby franchise, and some supporters are complaining. It's ridiculous!
 
.... most of the kids are part of PLADAR...

Sorry - is it PLAR, or PLADAR? I'm sure I've seen both around and about.

Some people complain about everything, before they complained because we weren't professionals. Now we are walking our first steps at the club level professionalism with our own Super Rugby franchise, and some supporters are complaining. It's ridiculous!

As I said above though, I think there are legitimate reasons to think that this move might turn out much worse for Argentinian rugby overall. I really hope UAR will have the flexibility to change their rules if it starts having a detrimental effect on the Pumas.

Thanks for the website recommendations BTW, I've been reading Rugby Fun a bit ... not a huge amount though, my Spanish reading speed is too slow to read many articles!
 
Sorry - is it PLAR, or PLADAR? I'm sure I've seen both around and about.



As I said above though, I think there are legitimate reasons to think that this move might turn out much worse for Argentinian rugby overall. I really hope UAR will have the flexibility to change their rules if it starts having a detrimental effect on the Pumas.

Thanks for the website recommendations BTW, I've been reading Rugby Fun a bit ... not a huge amount though, my Spanish reading speed is too slow to read many articles!

Is PLADAR = PLAN DE DESARROLLO DE ALTO RENDIMIENTO (HIGH PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN)

The UAR document: http://www.periodismo-rugby.com.ar/descargas/pladar.pdf (spanish)
 
Last edited:
Muchas gracias.

My Spanish isn't good enough to understand every word but it looks like a pretty solid development plan. Basically it covers what a European or SANZAR player would take for granted in their club academy when they first turn professional, nutrition, fitness and performance monitoring, I assume the "encuentros de práctica" are training camps for technical / tactical work? Obviously you guys don't have the advantage of professional academies so it seems like as good a substitute as you can have at national level. How often does the PLADAR "squad" come together? Are you, and Argentinians in general, pleased with it as a method for developing young players? Facundo Isa was a PLADAR player, wasn't he and there was another back row that came on against France I think
 

Latest posts

Top