Sport

Rugby opens up for Argentina

Brad Morgan

16 September 2009

Southern hemisphere rugby is in for a revolution. Argentina has been invited to join Tri-Nations champions South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia in a four-nations competition that would undoubtedly be the toughest annual competition in world rugby.

Sanzar, the controlling body of the Tri-Nations competition, has extended a conditional invitation to the Pumas to take part the new competition, and it is one they are eager to take up.

'Truly southern hemisphere championship'

"To have the Pumas, third at Rugby World Cup 2007 and currently ranked sixth in the world, join with the three top-ranked international teams in world rugby will be exciting for fans, players, sponsors and broadcasters across our four countries and beyond," Andy Marinos, acting MD of SA Rugby and CEO of Sanzar, said in a statement on Monday.

Argentina play a different style of rugby to the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies, and their inclusion would see the Tri-Nations evolve into "a truly southern hemisphere championship," Marinos said.

The conditions set for Argentina's inclusion are that their best players are made available to play in the Four Nations.

"To assist with this, the national unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are very keen to actively work with Argentina to place their best players across Super Rugby teams in the three countries," Sanzar said in the statement.

Implications for Super rugby

Such a move would also have a major impact on Australia, New Zealand and South Africa's regional Super 14 competition, which is set to become the Super 15 from 2010.

There have been suggestions in recent times that the Super rugby competition needs to be freshened up; the introduction of Argentina's top players would surely do that.

Sanzar is in the process of renegotiating its broadcasting contract, and those negotiations will now include consideration for Argentina's participation in 2012.

Marinos said Sanzar was confident that they could work with the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR) and the International Rugby Board (IRB) could to confirm the Pumas' participation from 2012.

UAR president Porfirio Carreras described the development as "momentous" for rugby in Argentina, adding: "We are very much looking forward to working with our partners in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to secure our place in the best competition in world rugby in 2012."

'Vital to growing the game in Argentina'

Agustin Pichot – the captain of the Pumas team at Rugby World Cup 2007 and now a member of the UAR High Performance Board and a member of Four Nations project team – said: "I can't express the joy of myself and the team that has been working on this project to get to this point.

"We are delighted to have the chance to become a great rugby nation and to play in top-level international rugby, and we are committed to working with Sanzar to meet the conditions.

"This exciting development will be vital to grow the game in Argentina," Pichot said. "This is historic, and everyone in Argentina should be proud."

IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset said the news was "extremely exciting for the Unión Argentina de Rugby and rugby fans around the world."

The IRB invests $2-million annually to help develop rugby in Argentina. The money goes towards funding the country's new national High Performance Academy, the Argentina Jaguars, and the national under-20s and Sevens programmes.

Four Nations format

The format for a new Four Nations would see the four teams playing on a home and away basis, which means each country would play six matches. There would be total of 12 matches overall.

The competition would take place from mid-August (following the end of the new Super Rugby competition) over eight or nine weeks until early to mid-October. In a Rugby World Cup year, an abbreviated format would be played in July and August.

Marinos said Sanzar looked forward to confirming the Pumas' place alongside the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies in a new Four Nations. He said the controlling body would be meeting representatives of the UAR and the IRB to work towards confirming this.