SANZAR announced on Monday that Argentina had conditionally been invited to form a Four Nations tournament from 2012 with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the aftermatch of this invitation, Total Rugby Radio caught up with former Pumas captain Agustín Pichot to find out what this means for Argentine rugby...
Total Rugby: Gus, it's been a long road to get to this invitation...
Agustín Pichot: It's been a very interesting two years I have to say. We've been working on this process on a very intense basis. The IRB held a wonderful meeting in England, where we learned, Argentina learned, what things we should do to start being part of this elite in world rugby, so after two years of hard work we've finally convinced SANZAR that we're worth it and that really we could have a chance, if some conditions were put in place, to become a team that plays one of the best tournaments in the world.
TR: What does this mean for Argentina?
AP: It's huge, we've been fighting for this for a long time. The only way of getting better is to play with the best teams in the world, and Argentina was being held from that and really in the last years we didn't have the chance to play against, for example, Australia or New Zealand or South Africa on a regular basis. We've been playing only six games a year and it wasn't enough, so to start having the objective of a new tournament is brilliant. These two days have been brilliant and everyone in Argentina is excited and proud, and everyone in the world of sport in Argentina is looking forward to enjoying this tournament.
TR: And for you personally?
AP: Brilliant. The interesting thing for me is that I have been part of it on the field and off it. I had the chance to be part of the process playing and captaining Argentina, that's one of my special moments, and now also to be part of the group that is making the presentations and convincing the different countries and bodies that we are doing things well.
TR: How important is it that you keep making progress?
AP: I insist on the challenge. Argentina has to carry on producing good players, and the IRB has been helping a lot in the high performance systems. Argentina has to carry on implementing structures that go towards the models in the world and also it's very important that the players on the field carry on playing as they have been doing for the last few years. We made it to third, now we are ranked sixth, so we have to carry on showing that we are in the top level.
TR: What will it mean for the Southern hemisphere?
AP: I think that the world of rugby has to expand. We know that we are not regularly at the level of those top three teams, they're the best in the world and you can see that when England or Ireland tour down there they suffer a lot, so you have to imagine that for us it's a big task and a big challenge.
The challenge is there, we have to show a completely different style of rugby, but that's up to Argentina, to lift the level and compete with the best in the world. Hopefully, for the world of rugby, it will be nice to have a different scenario, to see South Africa not playing three times against the same teams, which can get boring and competitive.
It's the chance we wanted to show that we are on the same level as the other Tier One nations. In saying that, we have the responsibility of raising the bar, and getting better and better each time, because that's the next step. Us being in the Four Nations would be a huge step for world rugby, but also for Argentina as well.
This is an abridged version of the interview - listen to more on Total Rugby Radio >>
