Pumas v Wales

[The Lone Hydrangea]

A tale of 2 halves and the coach aint a happy camper(some merit in this)

Loffreda cries foul in wake of defeat
Saturday 18th August 2007


Loffreda: A call from Paddy O'Brien beckons
Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda launched an extraordinary assault on the game's law enforcers in the wake of his side's 27-20 defeat to Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, accused referees of general bias against the Pumas.

Loffreda claims referee Chris White should have awarded Argentina a penalty try after Wales were penalised three times while defending their own line in the dying moments of the game.

And he accused the Englishman of "coaching not refereeing" during his communication with the Wales players through the match.

But Loffreda's frustrations extended deeper than just the disappointment of missing out on a draw at the Millennium Stadium.

Loffreda believes the game's traditional powers receive preferential treatment from referees and he fears it will end up costing Argentina at the World Cup.

The Pumas are in the same group as hosts France and Ireland and Loffreda wants to arrange a meeting with the International Rugby Board's referees' chief Paddy O'Brien before the tournament kicks off on September 7.

"I am a bit confused, I don't understand what has happened with the interpretation of the rules of rugby," said Loffreda.

"In some parts of the game, there was a rule for the reds [Wales] and there was another rule for the blues [Argentina].

"I'm not arguing about the result of this game. Wales deserved to win, no problem about that.

"But I am worried about what will happen in the World Cup. If there is one rule for one team and another for the other team in the same game, we will have problems, we will have a lot of trouble.

"Many things were awarded to them [Wales] which were not awarded to us.

"This guy, Chris White, he only saw one team. He only penalised one team.

"If this continues in the same way, we will have to make a formal statement because we are playing with another set of rules.

"I am really aware of what will happen at the World Cup.

"We are going to be level with France and with Ireland but if there is a different interpretation of the rules it will change that.

"I don't want us to be treated so unfairly because we are from South America or because we are from Argentina. I want the same rules for everybody.

"Somebody has to look very carefully at this. I would like to speak with Paddy O'Brien if they allow me because this cannot happen in the World Cup.

"It will only be bad for the reputation of the World Cup."

Loffreda came into the post-match press conference with a list of issues from the game which frustrated him.

Chief among them was the referee's decision not to award a penalty try in the last minute and to then refer Martín Durand's effort to the television match official.

With time up on the match clock, Durand was driven over the Wales line but spilled the ball forward as he attempted to ground it - but TMO Romaine Poite ruled no try.

"When we played against Ireland two months ago the referee awarded a penalty try to Ireland when we collapsed the maul once, only once," said Loffreda.

"Today there were three times, clearly three times [when Wales collapsed]. That's a penalty try.

"And then, you know what he said to the TMO? He said: 'Give me a reason why I cannot award the try'. He saw a try so why is he asking the TMO?

"He [White] said, maybe 45 or 50 times 'red hands away'. He was coaching, not refereeing. He insisted many times to open the gap [in the line-out] to Wales and he never gave us a free-kick."

O'Brien is anxious to snuff out the habit referees have developed of over-communicating with teams. He wants them to punish what they see, not warn teams against infringements.

As for the match, Argentina looked nothing like the top-five team they are for the first 40 minutes as Wales dominated and surged into a 24-7 lead.

But the Pumas regrouped after the interval and moved within a converted try of Wales when winger Ignacio Corleto scored his second touchdown of the afternoon and fly-half Federico Todeschini booted 10 points.

"We had a poor first half and then we got into the game again. We were very close to turning it," said Loffreda, who will take over at Leicester after the World Cup.

"We didn't have a good performance in the first half. Wales put a lot of pressure on us and that was part of the reason why we were so poor.

"The second half we were better - not good, but better."



What the Wallabies would give to have a hooker of the calibre of Mario Ledesma.


Inglés chupa referrees culo

[slomo]

did anyone else notice the stadium was half empty, most unusual for a welsh home game.

[Sagerian]

There seemed to be quite a few people higher up. I had though it might have been raining and people were sitting up higher to avoid it.

Haven't seen the Argies play that bad for a while. Good job on them crawling back but that didn't look like their best form heading into the toughest group in the rwc.

[Burgs]

Pumas encouraged by result

August 19, 2007 - 2:02pm
Story by: Sportal

Argentina prop Rodrigo Roncero has said the team was content with their performance in the 27-20 defeat to Wales on Saturday.

The Pumas launched a late onslaught in Cardiff but were unable to grab a win which would have boosted morale ahead of the World Cup.

Roncero was not particularly despondent despite the setback however.

He said: "In the first half, we made childish mistakes.

"To win was not the main thing but we were looking forward to giving a greater identity to the team."

Felipe Contepomi, who played at centre despite an outstanding display against Ireland earlier this year at fly-half, was also unconcerned, adding: "We need more time playing together.

"We shouldn't be too desperate over this."

Federico Serra believed a more measured approach could pay dividends.

He said: "I think we need more patience in some situations. In the second half we changed our plan and that's a good thing.

"There are several things to correct. We made quite a lot of mistakes in defence during the first half.

"In these kind of Tests we cannot give away those types of errors."

Argentina's final warm-up game before the World Cup in France comes next Saturday when they meet a Belgium XV in Brussels.

One player who will hope to take part is centre Martin Gaitan, who suffered a 'cardiac problem' after the Wales game.

He fainted in the dressing room and was rushed to hospital where it was discovered one of his arteries was dilated.

[Burgs]

That's good news!

Puma recovers from heart scare

From staff writers
August 20, 2007

ARGENTINA centre Martin Gaitan is in good condition in hospital, a day after suffering heart trouble following the Pumas' loss to Wales in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match in Cardiff.

Gaitan played all 80 minutes before fainting in the dressing room after the 27-20 Millennium Stadium defeat, and was immediately treated by team doctor Mario Larrain.

Rushed to hospital, he was diagnosed with a dilated artery, and underwent a successful angioplasty, Larrain said in a statement on the Argentine Rugby Union website.

[JediKnight]

There seemed to be quite a few people higher up. I had though it might have been raining and people were sitting up higher to avoid it.

Haven't seen the Argies play that bad for a while. Good job on them crawling back but that didn't look like their best form heading into the toughest group in the rwc.

The roof was shut before kick-off so I don't think it was a case of sitting higher up to stay dry. Probably more a case of once they worked out the probable crowd numbers, they put them all together rather than spreading them around the stadium. I guess sitting up higher gives the crowd a better view - it's not like sitting in the 2nd (or 3rd) tier at Subi!!!