The one time in Europe that Argentina strayed slightly away from their traditional strengths, they lost, engaging in an entertaining running contest with Scotland, but otherwise closed the year with a 3-1 record over their last four.
It means that Los Pumas finish the season with form behind only New Zealand and Ireland, defeating the Wallabies in Mendoza, before grinding down Italy and France on consecutive weekends to return to South America on a high.
Coach Daniel Hourcade has been superb and his feats have been lost somewhat when talking about the likes of Steve Hansen or Joe Schmidt.
Yet the former Pampas mentor has turned many local players into hardened Test regulars, further ridding Argentina of a heavy reliance on European based stars.
The good, bad and ugly of the year…
Good:
For all of the talk about transforming Argentina into a regular top level competitor, their greatest power this year was seeing their further growth in pet areas. Not one front row emerged unscathed when playing against Los Pumas. Their scrum will be a major weapon at the Rugby World Cup.
Bad:
For all of their traditional strengths, Los Pumas showed this year how they struggle when playing a pure offensive contest. New Zealand and Scotland played an open gunfight against Argentina – inadvertently causing the South Americans to drift away from their preferred style of close quarter combat and scrum battles.
Ugly:
Nine losses is still nine losses, no matter how positively you present the improvements and muse about what is likely to be a positive future. Only the All Blacks ran away from Los Pumas in matches, but close defeats do not make a tier one power – closing out tight matches in the old continent would have done wonders for the morale in this regard.
Best players: There were many big names that stood up, with Juan Martin Hernandez beginning to show hints of the old Magi, while alongside him in the midfield Marcelo Bosch has emerged as a difficult task for rivals. However Agustin Creevy had a huge season, maybe the best hooker in the world in 2014, while Javier Ortega Desio was among a few who stood up in the absence of front line loose forwards.
Tactical overview: In fine mettle, although there may be a small question over whether to move away from playing flamboyant rugby and focus further on enhancing their traditional arsenal up front and on defence. Hourcade’s stamp is becoming more obvious on this growing nation.
Biggest strength: Their scrum, but also the eagerness of the tight five to get involved around the park, they might not have the soft hands of the All Blacks (yet?…) but their defensive work at the quarry face has become one of their strengths.
Potential work-on: Certain signs suggest that an attacking game is continuing to develop, wings are holding station wide with more regularity, while offensive numbers are being mounted with each game, even if they are still outscored in the try scoring stakes by top opponents. The embellishments continue, and the drought breaking win against Australia and a successful Euro tour is only going to add to the confidence to finish off try scoring plays.
Next season? There will be rightfully high hopes for Los Pumas next year, their final season before entering Super Rugby. While Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will come into The Rugby Championship with all of their players playing in the South’s premier domestic tournament, some of Argentina’s best won’t get the match time they want.
If Hourcade’s preference to select home based players continues it could be a god send as he will get significant amount of time to work with key individuals. With European clubs lukewarm towards the Rugby World Cup, don’t expect a big number of front line overseas players heading into the quadrennial tournament.
