KEY POINTS:
PARIS - The issue of Argentina's rugby future is a hot potato as the Pumas go into their World Cup quarter-final against Scotland on Sunday favoured to reach an unprecedented semi-final.
Finding the place the Pumas deserve in a major annual international competition is complicated and must be handled with care, the Argentine union's (UAR) director of rugby, Les Cusworth, said.
Former England international Cusworth, who has worked for the UAR for seven years, said any plan put in place must not be to the detriment of the Argentine amateur clubs.
The amateur UAR has often been seen as the stumbling block to progress for the Pumas on the international stage.
Cusworth, however, has been handed the task of setting up centres of excellence where the best Argentine players can receive special training to prepare them for the demands of the professional game.
"Part of my role as director of rugby is to create these high performance centres for elite rugby in the provinces," Cusworth told reporters.
"They've got to complement the clubs, support the clubs, it's not easy because they'll be taking those players away from the clubs ... and that can be eroding at the heart of a club.
"If we put a spanner in the works of the club system in Argentina, we're destroying the cow that's feeding us ... The clubs are a fantastic breeding ground.
"People say high performance programme, it's a rugby programme, it accommodates the elite, yes, but it also accommodates everybody under it as well, coaches, physios, doctors, players, referees."
WAY FORWARD
It has been suggested that the best way forward for Argentina is to form several teams run along professional lines, on a level above the amateur clubs, to take part in international competitions.
Discussions have been taking place about the viability of Argentina, the only top-tier country without a place in a major annual international tournament, joining the Tri-Nations.
The Pumas, who mostly play for European clubs, believe the only option is the Six Nations because there is not the calendar clash that would affect their participation in the southern hemisphere competition.
"Most of us have contracts with European clubs so playing the Tri-Nations would be difficult, we wouldn't get holidays, the clubs wouldn't release us," lock Patricio Albacete told reporters.
"There comes a moment when you have to rest, the more so for these kind of matches where you have to be well prepared."
Cusworth said that, first, the organisers of the major competitions must invite Argentina into their fold.
"The world of rugby has got to look at itself and say where do we want the game in 30 years' time, Tri-Nations, Six Nations," he said.
He, too, sees the Six Nations as the more viable option for Argentina.
"We could base ourselves in Brussels, Valencia, a range of places, Madrid, wherever," he said.
"Four hundred of our players are under contract in the northern hemisphere. There are none in the southern hemisphere.
"It's a fantastic opportunity for the game ... for people to help develop the game to where it ought to be.
"I don't see it as Argentina only, we've got to look a bit further, to the likes of Georgia, Portugal, Spain."
- REUTERS
