Here is a team that has already taken third place in the last Rugby World Cup, where it beat the host country France not once, but TWICE, almost all of their top players are playing professionally with top clubs in the best European Leagues. Last Saturday’s loss to France in Marseilles was only the second time that France has beaten Argentina in the 21st Century.(For the record, Argentina has won 6 of 8 matches) There is no denying France’s pedigree-and for Argentina to take a team with Grand Slam Success in the Six Nations, as well as being New Zealand’s Bogeyman in the 1999 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, it just begs the question of how much more Argentina can do.
Adding Argentina to the mix in the Southern Hemisphere will be a win-win situation all the way around. Let’s face it, with just 3 teams, expanding the number of games with the same 3 teams makes it just a little more than an intramural competition. If rugby REALLY wants to expand the game, adding Argentina, or even Japan to the mix would be a big help. As it stands, with the results that the Pumas have obtained, it would seem to me that Argentina has first dibs for inclusion into the Tri-Nations club.
If only it were that simple. Flying players from so many distant places to SANZAR is just not viable. I think the effort would be well spent creating a professional rugby infrastructure in Argentina and then pushing an Americas Cup. ARG will have a much tougher struggle in 2011, they had quite a good draw (despite FRA) in the 2007 RWC.
I don’t believe that the IRB and the major nations are serious about developing rugby into a genuine world game. It is not just Argentina and Japan but also the Pacific Islands where there is no serious commitment to development.
In the case of Argentina and the Pacific Islands the majors would not want to be cut off from access to players as might happen if these countries developed their own competitions.
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