Pumas pick top players for first tour match

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 32

Pumas pick top players for first tour match

PA Gisborne Argentina’s tour selectors have named a shadow “test” team for the first match of the Pumas’ New Zealand tour, against Poverty Bay at Rugby Park, Gisborne, tomorrow.

Two newcomers are in thei team, the lock, Marcos la-' chetti, and the hooker, Javier Perez Cobo, but their;

presence will be compensated for by the experience of their team-mates, it is obvious that tbe tour selectors want a good opening performance, and ■ to ensure this have named a; particularly strong pack. , The giant lachetti broth-■ ers, Marcos and Alegjandro, will lock the scrum, and Gabriel Travaglini will play at No. 8. The team worked out! under its coaches. Messrs j Luis Gradin and Aitor i Otano, in an intensive

90mm session yesterday. Mr Otano, whose coaching style is reminiscent of the vocal All Black mentor of the 19605, Mr Fred Allen, worked his forward charges bard.

!ihis coach drill the pack in ■'lineout, scrummaging, and ■ driving plays. ■! Two men who played

The pack leader for thej first match, the veteran flan-; ker. Hector Silva, assisted;

'against Graham Mourie’s ,1976 All Black team in ArJgentina, the full-back. Maritin Sanset, and the fly-half land captain, Hugo Porta, have also been named for i the tour opener. i In spite of wet conditions and Mr Gradin’s assertion I that his players made too many handling errors, the Puma three-quarter line for [tomorrow’s match looked sharp in their running and passing, and will obviously not want for pace. The wingers, Adolfo Cap-

Ipelletti and Marcelo Campo, ; brought reputations for i speed to New Zealand, and 'provided plenty of evidence [to support this on the wet ; ground. One minor area of concern

(to emerge from the session for the tourists appeared to be the hooking of Cobo.

I He was not timing the (ball well during the scrumimaging session on a scrum- ) machine, and received some special tuition from Silva and Mr Otano in the finer arts of the position. The number one half-back and hooker combination, Ri--1 cardo Landajo and Alejandro Cubolli, were not considered for selection because of an influenza bug which hit the team yesterday. The pair took no part in the training run. Marcos lachetti withdrew from the session after 40min before returning to the team’s hotel and confl ement to bed, also suffering from the ’flu. The manager, Mr Domingo ; Bereciartua, said that he expected the elder lachetti to be fit enough to make his debut in the Cambridge blue and white jersey tomorrow. The first training run of the tour left the spectators 'highly impressed with the

approach adopted by players and coaches alike. Mr Gradin, a Puma halfback from 1965-73, said that! the 90min workout was just an “average one.” He ex-j pected that most training runs on tour would last about two hours. Mr Gradin trained his men) harder than his French counterpart, Mr “Toto” Desclaux, did in any one training session during the Tricolors’ tour of New Zealand earlier this year. The team is: Martin San-| sot; Adolfo Cappelletti. Marcello Loffreda. Rafael Madero, Marcello Campo; Hugo Porta (captain); Alfredo| Soares-Gache; Gabriel Travaglini; Hector Silva, Marcos] lachetti, Alejandro lachetti,) Tomas Petersen; Enreque Rodriguez, Javier Perez Cobo. Hugo Nicola. Reserves: Backs, Ricardo Landajo, Jorge Gauweloose, Juan Piccardo. Forwards: Alejandro Voltan, Ernesto Ure.