The future remains uncertain for Argentina's Pumas despite producing the greatest effort in their history to finish third in the World Cup in France.
Players and officials have warned that Argentinian rugby will go backwards unless the national team is admitted to a regular international competition such as the Six Nations in Europe or the Tri-Nations in the southern hemisphere.
Travel costs have often been cited as reasons for Argentina's relatively small number of Test matches and its absence from an international competition.
PHOTO: AFP
But Pumas captain and scrumhalf Agustin Pichot, set to join his second Paris team in Metro Racing after winning the French club championship with Stade Francais, said the balance sheet could not be the only test.
"Rugby at the moment has to make a very tough decision, one in a more romantic, non-profitable way," he said.
Argentina made a dramatic start to the World cup defeating hosts France 17-12 in the opening match and later knocked out Ireland, their nemesis at the 2003 world cup, with a 30-15 win.
Although Argentina lost the semi-final to South Africa, they have climbed the world rankings.
Last week Syd Millar, the outgoing chairman of the International Rugby Board (IRB), said Argentina had been "neglected" and that a place should be found for them in an expanded Tri-Nations as there was no room left in European rugby's showpiece event.
But Millar, like many a supporter of Argentina's cause, stressed it was "not in the gift of the IRB," to get them into either competition.
For Pichot, whose last appearance in a 12-year Puma career came in the thrilling 34-10 win over France in the World Cup third place play-off, the warm words were all too familiar.
"The press conference in 2003, if you listen to it, which I have in the last month, was exactly the same," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB