With his team lacking match practice and missing key players, Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda said on Wednesday that his charges would face an uphill struggle against the buoyant All Blacks.
The Pumas come face-to-face on Saturday with a New Zealand team on a high after back-to-back defeats of world champions England in the past two weeks.
And while the All Blacks concentrated on finessing their already slick back play, Loffreda was appealing for help from the International Rugby Board to get Argentina more regular match practice.
”The IRB must help us get into a regular competition. I mean year after year a competition like the Tri-Nations or the Super 12 or maybe the Six Nations,” he said.
”We only have our test matches but not more than seven per year.
”We need regular competition to have the conditions that the other teams have.” The Pumas will have a second-string look about them because of club commitments and injuries, particularly in the back line.
”We have a new team and are having our first experience with them, we are looking forward to seeing what they can do against the All Blacks,” Loffreda said.
”It’s a problem because a lot of our players are playing overseas. We don’t have them to regularly have practices.”
There are 12 Argentina-based players in the 22-strong squad. Six are from French clubs and two each from Italy and England.
Argentina’s 1-1 home series draw with Wales this month saw them drop from seventh to eighth in the IRB world rankings, while New Zealand have climbed to the top. — Sapa