Nacho Fernández Lobbe, before the mission of filming Jaguares XV
It is not Jaguares, it is not Ceibos. The 2021 American Super League will have Jaguares XV as Argentine representative. It will be the only Argentine professional team in this post Super Rugby transition. In a contest with an incipient level of competition and with a team without the great figures of the Pumas, but which retains the function of acting as a safeguard for the national team. At the head of that team will be Carlos Ignacio Fernández Lobbe. For the third consecutive year, the second line bronze medal in France 2007 will be at the forefront of the development of players with projection of Pumas.
In the roster of 31 players that will begin the preseason on Monday with a view to the start of the continental competition, there are some experienced with experience in Jaguares and Pumas such as Javier Ortega Desio, Felipe Ezcurra, Sebastián Cancelliere and Francisco Gorrissen, also promises who already had their first experience in the squad of the last Tri-Nations, such the cases of Joaquín Oviedo, Juan Martín González and Rodrigo Fernández Criado, and a large group that will have the possibility to show their conditions.
Nacho Fernández Lobbe will lead Jaguares XV Credit: Flickr UAR
“Super Rugby is not there, it is a fact,” Fernández Lobbe said in a virtual press conference. “The Super League is a good opportunity for some who come from playing World Cups or the Three Nations in Australia to put that experience and good examples to pass on to those who are just starting their careers. My idea has already made them feel. With Mario [Ledesma, head coach de los Pumas], the communication channel is daily. We are always talking about the progress of the different interesting players that appear in the academies or in the clubs. We hope there are players who continue to raise their hands and leave Mario uncertain. “
In a context still of uncertainty due to the pandemic, the primary objective, said Fernández Lobbe, is to complete the contest: “The great challenge is to finish the tournament. We are going to put a lot of emphasis on taking care of each other so that this tournament comes to an end and we have three months of competition. We have the little experience of the five weeks in Uruguay last year [el Cuatro Naciones con Argentina XV], which was from the hotel to training and from training to the hotel. Players are privileged to do what they like, and they do it because they are taking care of themselves. “
Frankie Gorrissen, one of the faces that will be in the consideration of the 2021 team Credit: Flickr UAR
The contest will begin on the 16th of next month and will be played in a concentrated way in two bubbles: first in Chile and then in Uruguay, with matches every four days. “I think it was the best way to do it,” Nacho continued. “We have participated in the 2016 M20 World Cup, which is played every four days. For that the physical part will be essential in this preseason period to get to the competition in a better way. When you enter the competition there is only time to prepare the details match by match. “
Regarding the style that he will try to print on Jaguares XV, Fernández Lobbe stated that he wants a team with “personality and prominence” and that he aspires to a game “of many phases, dynamic”, and based on the emblem of “defense”. The assistant coaches will be Juan Fernández Miranda, who was at Jaguares, and Julio García, who continues alongside Fernández Lobbe.
The final will be played on May 15 and by logic there should be Jaguares XV. For the second half of the year the squad still does not have firm competition, although the possibility of participate in the Currie Cup, as in 2019 (in the second division), also with Fernández Lobbe as coach. “I don’t have the magic ball. The experience of having been in 2019 with Jaguares XV was spectacular, because the players were able to dedicate themselves 24/7 to the game,” said Lobbe. “The growth that I saw in what is living together and what they have improved in the physical, game and mental part, is a nice experience to be able to do it again.”
With Jaguares XV, a new era begins in Argentine professional rugby.
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