NZRU denies Tri Nations shutout

The gloom engulfing Argentinian rugby has been lifted slightly by New Zealand assurances that the door for the Pumas to enter the Tri Nations remains open.

Beset by insolvency and a recent player strike (yet to be resolved but parked sufficiently to allow their international season to progress), the Argentinian Rugby Union (UAR) hardly appears to be the belle everyone wants to take to the ball.

Before the strike situation was resolved, Pumas hooker and players' representative Mario Ledesma reprised accusations that the New Zealand Rugby Union had reneged on a 'gentleman's agreement' to assist the development of Argentine rugby, an agreement supposedly formed in the heat of the battle to secure the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Ledesma, capped 50 times by his country, said New Zealand would never have got the hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup without Argentina's vote. He says the New Zealand hierarchy are paying only lip service to promises made when trying to win the nod ahead of favourites South Africa and Japan last year.

"The game against New Zealand [on June 24] was only added to the fixture list because we voted for New Zealand to get the World Cup," said Ledesma, speaking to Herald on Sunday correspondent in Europe, Graeme Gillespie.

"We were hoping, as a result of helping New Zealand, they would then help us. But that hasn't happened. We were hoping they would look at extending the Tri Nations to include Argentina. If not, then add an Argentine team to the Super 14. But they haven't done anything."

A frustrated Ledesma, 33, said New Zealand "see us as not having box office appeal for their competitions. But we need help to raise the profile of the game in Argentina".

But the NZRU feels it has answered all these allegations before - specifically, that it made no such agreement; that the June 24 test had been arranged through the IRB a long time ago; and that Sanzar and not the NZRU hold the key to gaining entry to the Tri Nations and Super 14.

However, the NZRU does not want to see Argentina cut adrift and has met UAR officials to help them map out a strategy, said chief executive Chris Moller. He says that if the UAR can improve the standard of domestic competition within Argentina, then they could make a compelling case to be included in an expanded Tri Nations.

Argentina pushed for inclusion when Sanzar last renegotiated the broadcasting rights for Super 12 and Tri Nations in 2000 but the bid was unsuccessful. Sanzar's specialist broadcast committee felt that Argentina would struggle to be competitive as most of their players are contracted to European clubs and would not be released to play in the Tri Nations.

The NZRU has, therefore, offered the UAR advice on how to improve its domestic competition and agreed for some of the specialists in the All Black camp to provide coaching later this month when New Zealand play Argentina in Buenos Aires.

"The reality is that the majority of their players play in Europe. The test window is in June but the Tri Nations is played in July, August and September. Without wishing to sound disrespectful, that signalled a mismatch if put up against three of the world's best sides," said Moller.

"Argentina need to develop a viable domestic competition. All options will be open and up for consideration when we renegotiate."

The NZRU has pledged its support to help develop Argentinian rugby but has not made any promises to go into bat and push for the Pumas' Tri Nations inclusion. Nor, says Moller, is the NZRU helping the UAR as part of some gentleman's agreement struck late last year.

Conspiracy theories surfaced in the wake of New Zealand's successful bid to host the 2011 World Cup that Argentina's vote was secured on a nudge and a wink. Moller says Argentina voted for South Africa's bid: "If we did have a gentleman's agreement, it couldn't have been a very good one because Argentina didn't vote for us in the first round. I dealt with these accusations after we won the bid - we did not make any agreement with any country in return for votes."