Write off men’s double defending HSBC SVNS Series league champions at your peril. That is the message from long-time head coach Santiago Gómez Cora ahead of the crunch of the season.
For a side used to contesting finals and grabbing glory, a succession of mid-table SVNS Series finishes – featuring several humbling losses – has taken some getting used to. But with the focus on building depth, bedding in new combinations and locating fresh patterns, it has not been unexpected.
Now, however, Gómez Cora is ready for his charges to take the next step, as he eyes up the three-stop HSBC SVNS World Championships.
“Our focus is on continuous improvement. That’s our goal for the season,” Gómez Cora said from New York, ahead of the final regular season tournament. “Improving our play will put us on the podium, not the other way around.”
While superstars of Los Pumas’ dominant recent past, including the likes of Marcos Moneta and Luciano Gonzalez, have pulled on the blue-and-white this season, a new crop of youngsters have largely been given centre stage.
The likes of Pedro De Haro – already a regular point-scoring scrumhalf – Pan American Games’ star Juan Patricio Batac and Valentín Maldonado, a recent U20s graduate, have all grabbed the opportunity.
And despite the odd hiccup, including a sobering 59-7 defeat to France in the pool stage in Dubai, Gómez Cora is adamant the plan is working.
“We’re building the team, with many new players and several experienced ones,” said the man who has not only been in charge since 2013, but is still Argentina’s record sevens point scorer and cap holder.
“We’re looking to give the new players playing time to assemble a competitive team for the finals.”
The “good results” Gómez Cora highlights can at times be hard to see among the headlines. The team finished eighth in Dubai, seventh in Singapore and fifth in both Perth and Vancouver.
There have been encouraging signs. Not only in the silver medal in Cape Town, when Los Pumas went down 21-19 to South Africa in the final, but in a host of tight matches, which will, according to Gómez Cora, start to fall their way soon.
Take the recent Vancouver Series as an example. Only a two-point loss to Australia in their opening pool match cost Argentina the chance of a place in the semi-finals. And, while a 28-12 defeat to France in their final pool-stage match was damaging, a young team led by two season-debutants, Sebastian Dubuc and Santiago Vera Feld, got their revenge, hammering France 34-15 in the fifth-place playoff.
All of which gives weight to coach Gómez Cora’s increasingly confident utterances.
“The close results tell us we’re improving and getting closer to the team’s objectives,” the 47-year-old confirmed.
While understandably reluctant to single out any of his multitude of new, young stars, when pushed Gómez Cora concedes that one in particular has impressed.
“I like all the new ones, but perhaps the one that stands out for the amount of minutes played and how quickly he came together could be Pedro De Haro,” the head coach said.
Nine tries across Argentina’s 10 matches in Perth and Vancouver shows just how central De Haro has made himself. Two came in a 47-12 win over France in Perth, as Los Pumas got a measure of revenge for that chastening opening leg defeat. All signs that the team may well be gearing up for a blockbuster finish to the season.
Like many of the teams on show, Argentina are expecting to benefit from some strong diaspora support in New York.
The “warmth of the crowd” that Gómez Cora is hoping for has been matched by a kind draw – as far as the super-charged nature of the SVNS Series goes.
Four of the teams above Argentina in the current table, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and France have all been drawn together in Pool A. That leaves Los Pumas doing battle with leaders Fiji, plus seventh-placed Spain and eighth-placed Great Britain.
Still viewing it as a “final testing stage before the finals” it could be just the tonic for Gómez Cora and his emerging squad.