Aviva Premiership Final Preview

The Champion of English rugby will be crowned today as the home of the RFU, Twickenham stages the 2012 Aviva Premiership Final to be contested by the Harlequins and the Leicester Tigers. Should the Quins be victorious it would be the first ever championship title for the London based side. While a win for the Tigers would see England´s most successful club continue to expand on its untouchable resume in English rugby. Leicester are nine time champions of England, three more than the nearest best clubs, Bath and the London Wasps who have both been champions six times. Leicester´s last championship victory came in 2010 while the club was defeated by Saracens in the 2011 final. 

Regardless of who wins, the Final will be a further illustration of the strength of Argentine rugby with Pumas players being present in both teams. The Harlequins will have a Pumas secondrower on the bench as Tomás Vallejos Cinalli looks to break into the squad for The Rugby Championship. The Leicester Tigers have two Pumas in the starting lineup with Horacio Agulla set to play his final match for the club. He will start on the right wing while Marcos Ayerza is to start at loosehead prop. Argentine-Italian tighthead prop, Martín Castrogiovanni has been named on the bench. 

Prediction: Leicester to win by 8 points. 

Aviva Premiership - Semi Finals Wrap

While the Celtic-Italian League Semi Finals were taking place and the Final round of the French Top 14 Saturday afternoon was a massive day for English rugby with the Semi Finals of the Aviva Premiership taking place. With both home sides winning their matches the Aviva Premiership Final has been confirmed to be contested between the Leicester Tigers and the Harlequins. The Tigers are the most successful team in the history of English rugby and the sides Semi Final win was against last seasons champions. The Quins, in contrast, are very much the underdogs and will be contesting a first ever final. The London based club, nevertheless, finished top of the table in the regular season and has a host of international players to enter the final in confidence. The Quins win came late in the match with a try four minutes from fulltime. The Final will be played at the home of English Rugby, Twickenham Stadium on May 26.

The Semi Finals matches were further reasoning for why Argentina 2023 is such a good idea as players from Argentina were involved in both Semi Finals and the United States of America was also represented, showcasing the Americas´ contribution to the global game. Come Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, the Americas will be the final frontier - all other IRB defined regions will have hosted the Rugby World Cup at least once. 

Leicester Tigers 24-15 Saracens
Outgoing winger, Horacio Agulla played right wing with the Puma playing the full match. Marcos Ayerza played loosehead prop, similarly playing the full 80 minutes. While Argentine-Italian Martín Castrogiovanni came on in the 59th minute as a replacement for the Tigers. USA Eagles´ fullback, Chris Wyles played left wing for Saracens and Argentine-Italian prop Carlos Nieto was a replacement, coming on in the 61st minute.

Harlequins 25-23 Northampton Saints
Argentine secondrower Tomás Vallejos Cinalli was on the bench for the Quins. His USA counterpart, Samu Manoa did not feature for the Saints. 

Aviva Premiership Semi Finals - The Road to Twickenham

The Aviva Premiership is down to four with the Semi Finals of England´s premier rugby competition to be played on Saturday in Leicester and London. The two winning sides will qualify for the final to be played at the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium on May 26. The same venue will host the Heineken Cup Final one week earlier between Leinster and Ulster. It will also be the central venue for Rugby World Cup 2015 with the RFU having said the venue will open the tournament as well as host the final.

The Aviva Premiership Semi Finals will be a further case in point for Argentina to host Rugby World Cup 2023 due to the involvement of Pumas players in both Semi Finals. No other country yet to host a World Cup will have players in both Semi Finals. The case for Argentina to host is also supported by the involvement of the USA with the North American country having a player involved in one of the two Semi Finals. With Japan hosting Rugby World Cup 2019 the Americas will be the onl region yet to have hosted a World Cup. The same region is the only to have produced a World Cup Semi Finalist yet to host a tournament.

Leicester Tigers vs Saracens

Saracens won the 2011 Final while Leicester won in 2010. In 2012, however, they will play at the Semi Finals stage. Leicester enter as heavy favorites having dominated the Aviva Premiership inr ecent times. Since the completion of the Six Nations no team has come close to playing the kind of rugby that Leicester have. 

Players from the Americas: Horacio Agulla and Marcos Ayerza (Argentina),  Chris Wyles (USA), Martín Castrogiovanni and Carlos Nieto (Argentine players who are Italian capped)

Prediction: Tigers to win by 12 points.

Leicester15 Geordan Murphy (captain), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 George Skivington, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza

Bench: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Craig Newby, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Scott Hamilton

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill.

Bench: 16 Jamie George, 17 John Smit, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Hugh Vyvyan, 20 George Kruis, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Adam Powell, 23 James Short.

Harlequins vs Northampton Saints

The Quins dominated the first half of the season and were well out in front in the Premiership before other clubs closed the gap following the return of players from World Cup duty. Northampton were the final team to qualify for the Semi Finals but are no weak opponent. The match could go either way with the sides being of similar abilities.

Players from the Americas: Tomás Vallejos Cinalli

Prediction: Harlequins to win by 3

Harlequins

15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson,
4 Olly Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler

Bench: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Tomás Vallejos Cinalli, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Richard Bolt, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper.

Northampton15 Ben Foden,14 Chris Ashton, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson (captain), 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 James Craig, 5 Christian Day, 4 Mark Sorenson, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Andy Long, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha

Bench: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Tom May.

2010 Final 


2011 Final 

Aviva Premiership - Round 22 Wrap

Agulla scores try number seven of the season for Leicester

Round 22, the final round of the season´s regular play took place this past weekend in England, confirming the Top Four who will play in Semi Finals as well the two two other sides who have qualified to be England´s six teams in next seasons Heineken Cup. The Semi Finals will be contested by three of the same four teams from last season. Gloucester´s horror season means the team misses out not only on a Semi Final´s place but has also failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup. London based side, the Harlequins replace Gloucester in the top four and finished top of the table after being greatly advantaged in the early stages of the season due to other sides missing large numbers of players to World Cup duty.

The Harlequins will host the Northampton Saints in one Semi Final while the Leicester Tigers will host Saracens in the other. Both will be played this coming Saturday at the home venues of these clubs. Such is the lack of quality organization in English rugby that one of the Semi Finals will be played at a 12,000 capacity venue. It coincides with the RFU´s lack of international matches outside of London as Twickenham has hosted every home match over the past decade. The only match that England has played at a different venue was at Old Trafford in 2009 when the UAR moved the match from Buenos Aires to Manchester in an attempt to make a large profit from the fixture. The Greater Metropolitan area of Manchester is home to the Sale Sharks and now the club is the Northern most team in the Aviva Premiership following the Newcastle Falcon´s win over the London Wasps which sees the Falcons relegated due to the Wasps´ winning a bonus point. 

Both Newcastle and Manchester are to host World Cup matches in 2015 in big stadiums. yet these venues never host Aviva Premiership or Heineken Cup matches. The RFU needs to show vision here to collaborate with clubs so that there can be matches played at the likes of Leeds, Liverpool, Coventry and Southampton  between now and 2015. Tests should also be played in these areas. November 2012´s home test vs Fiji would be a good one to be played at Coventry. 

It is not yet clear who will be replacing Newcastle in the English Top Flght but it is likely to be Bristol who have been in the second division since being relegated in 2009. Bristol replacing Northampton is bad news for World Cup organizers just like Worcester replacing Leeds was last season. Bristol´s neighbour, the Exeter Chiefs made history on Saturday in finishing fifth in the Aviva Premiership to qualify for the Heineken Cup. The Chiefs and the sixth placed Sale Sharks will join the top four in next seasons European competition.

Leicester Tigers 28-3 Bath

Pumas winger Horacio Agulla continued his sublime season, which has earned him Leicester player of the year and try of the year as he scored a try in the Tigers win vs Bath. Agulla played the full match and was joined by fellow Puma, Marcos Ayerza who played 64 minutes at loosehead prop. This weekend the Buenos Aires pair were also named in the Aviva Premiership Dream XV by English World Cup Winning centre, Will Greenwood. While a third Argentine player started, with the Italian international Martín Castrogiovanni playing tighthead prop.

London Irish Exiles 52-18 Gloucester

Canada´s Jebb Sinclair did not play and nor did Argentina´s Matias Cortese. The former Pumas hooker will not be saint at Gloucester next season. The match was overshadowed by a fight between David Paice and Scottish international Jim Hamilton. 

London Wasps 10-14 Newcastle Falcons

USA centre Paul Emerick missed the match for the Wasps.

Northampton Saints 42-14 Worcester Warriors

USA secondrower Samu Manoa did not play for the Saints nor did USA hooker Chris Biller. 

Sale Sharks 10-24 Harlequins

Secondrower Tomás Vallejos Cinalli was on the bench for the Quins but departing inside back, Benjamin Urdapilleta was left out of the match day 23. Young Argentine wniger, Joaquin Tuculet did not play for the Sharks. 

Saracens 40-22 Exeter Chiefs

USA Eagles fullback, Chris Wyles played outside centre for the home side and was joined by the Argentine-Italian Carlos Nieto. Gonzalo Camacho missed the match for the Chiefs due to injury while Ignacio Mieres was on the bench.

Aviva Premiership Standings

1 Harlequins 75

2 Leicester 74

3 Saracens 73

4 Northampton 65

5 Exeter 59

6 Sale 49

7 L Irish 45

8 Bath 44

9 Gloucester 44

10 Worcester 36

11 L Wasps 33

12 Newcastle 32

* Qualified for Semi Finals and next seasons Heineken Cup

*Qualified for next seasons Heineken Cup
* Relegated 

Wasps vs Newcastle


Northampton vs Worcester


London Irish vs Gloucester Fight


Sale vs Harlequins


Saracens vs Exeter

Benjamin Urdapilleta heading to France

Argentine back, Benjamin Urdapilleta will be leaving the Aviva Premiership at the end of the curent season to play in France. The 26 year old will end his two year stint with the Harlequins to play in France´s pro d2 (second division) for eastern French club, Oyonnax and will recieve significantly more game time and be used in bhis prefered position of flyhalf as well as being the goalkicker. Urdapilleta has played 20 matches for the London based side since joinig the club in mid 2010. He has been unable to, howver, play in the flyhalf position due to the position being occupied by former All Black Nick Evans and his replacement, Rory Clegg. In his two seasons with the club, Urdapilleta scored 20 points. He was used as a centre, playing mostly in the 2010-2011 season as a 13 and as a 12 in the current season.

Urdapilleta has won five international caps for Argentina, having been used as a fringe player. He debuted vs Chile in 2007 and scored 13 points. He has also faced Uruguay, South Africa and Wales but has always been used as a injury motivated replacement. His move to the French second division could well get him on track if he is to be a Puma again. Urdapilleta has two massive goals now. Firstly to win the Aviva Premiership this month as he sned his two year deal with the Harlequins and secondly to help Oyonnax win promotion to the Top 14. The club has been on the verge of promotion inr ecent seasons but currently sits in eighth position and out of the running for promotion for next season. Before playing in England, Urdapilleta played for Los Pampas XV in the teams debut season in 2010. 

Aviva Premiership - Round 20 Wrap

Horacio Agulla scores vs Northampton

Sale Sharks 16-9 Bath

A good win for the Sale Sharks sees the team move back into the top six and back into contention for a place in the 2012-2013 Heineken Cup.The teams chances of making the Aviva Premiership Semi Finals are remote, however, as the gap between fifth and sixth positions is too large for Sale to qualify. Bath sit in eighth position, five points behind Sale and look to be bound for a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup next season. 

Northampton Saints 21-35 Leicester Tigers

The match of the round proved to be a one-sided affair as the Leicester Tigers dominated the Saints at Franklin Gardens. The bonus point win sees the Tigers move into second place in the standings while the Saints drop out of the top four. The Tigers claimed the bonus point in the 53rd minute with a try to winger Horacio Agulla. The Puma continued his fine form, underling his player of the month award handed to him last week, his second of the season. In addition to scoring a try, Agulla set up Leicester´s second time with a well timed kick over the top down the touchline which he, himself regathered before putting Alesana Tuilagi over for a try. He also impressed in defence as he saved a certain try by putting in a text-book tackle on Paul Diggin which send the Saints winger into touch when a try looked certain. Marcos Ayerza started for the Tigers at loosehead prop and had a solid day in the frontrow, being awarded penalties as the Saints scrum buckled. USA secondrower, Samu Manoa started for the hosts, playing 67 minutes. 

Gloucester 20-29 Newcastle Falcons

A vital away victory for the Falcons means the only surviving team from Northern England in the Aviva Premiership may well stay on in the competition for next season. With the bottom of the table club being automatically relegated either Newcastle or the London Wasps will not be in England´s Top Flight next season. The two teams will meet in the final round and the match looks like it will determine who will be staying and who will be leaving the Aviva Premiership. Newcastle´s win in Gloucester cuts the gap to four points, or one win. 

London Irish 19-28 Saracens

Saturday´s first all-London clash was another forgettable match for the London Irish Exiles as the clubs dreadful season continues. The club is just looking forward for the season to end and then start again in August. Saracens, despite winning, drop behind the Leicester Tigers who scored a bonus point win. The match featured the three World Cup 2011 countries from the Americas with Argentina, Canada and the United States of America all having players involved in the contest. Canada´s Jebb Sinclair played the final quarter for the hosts, USA fullback Chris Wyles played the full match at outside centre and Argentine-Italian prop Carlos Nieto played 13 minutes from the bench. 

Worcester Warriors 26-31 Exeter Chiefs

Another away victory for the surprize team of the season sees the Chiefs all but guarantee a Heineken Cup place next season and move closer to securing a second first - a place in the Aviva Premiership Semi Finals. Exeter are two points ahead of the Northampton Saints who they will face in round 21 at home. The teams final nmatch will then be an away fixture against Saracens in London. Both will be tough matches but the way things have been going for the Chiefs it would appear that the club will, indeed, qualify for the Semi Finals. Should the club defeat Northampton then it will secure a top four placing. Both of the Chiefs´ Pumas started the match in Worcester with Gonzalo Camacho playing 70 minutes, with 10 minutes on the sidelines for being yellow carded. Ignacio Mieres played 66 minutes, landing nine points thanks to three penalties. He set up the Chiefs´ first try with a nice kick over the top. His success with the Chiefs is a double-edged sword as while he is playing himself into Los Pumas he will not play against Italy should Exeter make the Aviva Premiership Final as the match is seven days before the Pumas take on Italy in San Juan. 

Harlequins 33-17 London Wasps

The second all-London clash was not the result the visitors were looking for as the Wasps have been going through tough times on and off the field recently. With the Falcons having upset Gloucester the Wasps are now going to need to dig deep to stay in the Aviva Premiership. The Harlequins, in contrast, are top of the table after another victory but are hardly comfortable as a the style of play that Leicester are producing has the Tigers looking like heavy favorites to win the title this season. The Quins won with two fringe Pumas players coming on late in the match as centre Benjamin Urdapilleta and secondrower Tolás Vallejos Cinalli both came on for the final eight minutes of play. The USA´s Paul Emerick did not play for the Wasps as the centre continue to recover from injury.

Aviva Premiership Standings
1 Harlequins 71
2 Leicester Tigers 65
3 Saracens 64
4 Exeter Chiefs 58
5 Northampton Saints 56
6 Sale Sharks 45
7 Gloucester 43
8 Bath 40
9 London Irish Exiles 37
10 Worcester Warriors 36
11 London Wasps 31
12 Newcastle Falcons 27 

* Semi Finals Places
* Threatened with Relegation

Sale Sharks vs Bath


Northampton Saints vs Leicester Tigers


Gloucester vs Newcastle Falcons 


London Irish v Saracens


Worcester Warriors vs Exeter Chiefs


Harlequins vs London Wasps

Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals Wrap

Stade Français 22-17 Exeter
Exeter, who look likely to be playing in the Heineken Cup next season, really gave a sleepy Stade Français a large fright at the Stade Charlety. They dominated most of the match, but failed to ever take a big lead on the scoreboard, and late on failed to take their chances with kicks, got some bad luck with some Stade ruck infringements going unseen and the lack of a camera at the right angle for a probable try whcih saw it disallowed meant Stade could score late on with a try from Paul Williams set up by some Julien Dupuy brilliance to take the match.

Ignacio Mieres making a break against Stade Français

This game also saw an interesting match up between two Pumas contenders for the number 10 shirt Felipe Contepomi and Ignacio Mieres. But both had mixed matches. Contepomi was less prominent in the match but stupidly sin binned after reacting to a borderline foul tackle and what looked like taunting by the Exeter hooker Chris Whitehead, but ultimately it was his chip kick to set up Djibril Camara's well finished try  that was crucial to the result.

Mieres on the otherhand, was better than Contepomi throughout the match, but failed to make a difference where it counts on the scoreboard. It was his sensational 40 metre break which set up Exeter disallowed try which was probably a try in the first half, and in the second half he quite simply bottled two opportunities to secure the match with a medium difficulty conversion and very easy drop goal miss, although it could be argued Stade were offside for the charge down. He will be gutted to have missed the chance to knock out the team which massively underused him and preferred to pick Lionel Beauxis on his one man mission to whack the leather of all rugby balls.

It will be interesting to see who is chosen for the Pumas 10 shirt as there are good arguments for all of Hernández, Contepomi and Mieres to start there for the Pumas later this year.

As a sidenote Stade Français continue to get some very poor crowds at the Stade Charlety, whilst they seem to always sell out the Stade de France for matches and played in front of a packed crowd in Mans two weeks ago their attendances at just average home matches has been dismal, only 4,693 turned up to this match.

Toulon 37-8 Harlequins
Whilst the first match had a scoreline which didn't reflect the match, the second certainly did as Toulon thumped the English leaders Harlequins which extends their unbeaten run at the Stade Mayol to 13 matches. Toulon were dominant in all areas of the pitch and just scored from any penalty conceded by Quins and added tries towards the end to sweeten the scoreline for them. Notably Steffon Armitage was outstanding in this match and must be working towards an England recall as a specialist number 7, a place he has never really been given a fair run before.

Harlequins had two Argentines playing, starting was Tomás Vallejos and Benjamín Urdapilleta off the bench, neither were particularly prominent in this match.

Wasps 23-26 Biarritz
This was a match that was Biarritz's to lose and they almost did, they had a dominating pack and created two excellent try opportunities in the first half only for Iain Balshaw to wreck them, nevertheless they were led 23-9 in the second half with a try from Blashaw and South African prop Eugene van Staden. But Wasps scored tow tries in three minutes to level the scores. After another ruined easy try opportunity by Florian Faure this time, the Basque side eventually went through thanks to the trusty calmness of Dimitri Yachvili's boot.

Two Argentines were in the Biarritz team, Eusébio Guiñazu started at hooker and had a mixed day with one or two poor lineout throws, whilst Francisco Gómez Kodela came off the bench in the second half.

Brive 15-11 Scarlets
This was Brive's second string side, but it managed to defeat the Scarlets first choice side at home thanks mainly to a couple of factors. Brive dominated the Scarlets scrum and it is thanks to that Brive got most of the territory and their points from.

Whilst the Scarlets malfunctioned badly at the scrum, they also malfunctioned at the lineout with Matthew Rees who has been having a very poor season losing the first four or five lineouts. The Scarlets much talked about backs didn't get into the match. If the Scarlets want to compete at Heineken Cup level they will simply have to buy a better front five as their numbers one to five simply aren't good enough for Heineken Cup level rugby. And Brive proved that a worse team on paper, can beat a better team when the set pieces are so dominant.

Out of interest, France may want to keep an eye on the 19 year old loosehead prop Jefferson Poirot who on his first start for Brive destroyed the Scarlets tighthead, who was destroyed even more when Davit Khinchagishvili came on.

One Argentine, scrum half Agustín Figuerola played in this match coming off the bench late on for Brive.

Semi Final draw:
Toulon v Stade Français
Biarritz v Brive

The semi finals are an all French affair, and look very easy to predict, with the home teams having a massive advantage in each match, it would be a huge surprise not to see a Toulon against Biarritz final at the Stoop.

Final to be played at the Twickenham Stoop

The Rugby Championship Players To Watch - Gonzalo Camacho

27 year old winger, Gonzalo Camacho is a player to watch out for this year for Los Pumas. The Exeter Chiefs winger has been a starter for the Aviva Premiership team all season and carries the misleading statistic of not scoring a try at all for the club since his arrival following Rugby World Cup 2011. The Chiefs signed him in what was a major coup for the club considered as big one of the most likely for relegation to the second division. His arrival, however, has proven to be good for him and for the club. Despite only having scored one try thus far he has been a constant threat in attack and despite his small stature he has been like a brick wall in defence. 

Camacho in Dubai 2009

The rise of Camacho into Los Pumas was no easy road. As an amateur player in Buenos Aires his chance came while playing Rugby Sevens for his country. He had come through the Argentine system and emerged as a Pumas player at the right time - just as the IRB were waking up to the need to help the UAR go professional. It took Argentina´s performance at Rugby World Cup 2007 to alert the sports gobal governing body and Gonzalo Camacho was a young player who was quickly selected  and prepared by the PladAR system. While the system was coming together, Camacho made his test debut, scoring two tries vs Uruguay in March 2008. he earned his second test cap latter that year and scored a try vs Chile. His big break, however, did not come in 2008 but the following year and from Sevens rugby rather than rugby union. Camacho was in Argentina´s Sevens team and was a key player. He was a part of the team that finished second in the 2009 World Cup in Dubai. His performances had attracted the interests of scouts and English side, the Harlequins signed him no a two year deal starting in August 2009. 

Camacho evades Chris Robshaw

With Argentina missing players to injury and the form of some not being what it perhaps should have been, Santiago Phelan, named Camacho in his squad for the June 2009 internationals vs England. Camacho started both tests on the right wing, scoring a try in the home match at Salta. The try was a finalist for the IRB Try of the year. It underlined his potential as a player who could go on to start for Argentina at the World Cup. It also saw him give English rugby fans an indication of his abilities. Two months after helping Argentina to a test victory he was in London with the Harlequins. He was expected to start on the wing for Argentina in the November 2009 international tour of England, Wales and Scotland but he missed out due to injury. He also missed Argentina´s home series in June 2010 and had to wait until November 2010 to make his return to the international stage. He started vs Italy and France and put in solid performances to underline his credentials.

Camacho lifts the Amlin Challenge Cup

After seeing out his two year deal, Camacho was signed by Exeter despite the Harlequins eagerness to resign the Pumas winger. He played for the Harlequins for two seasons, with the 2010-2011 season being his better one as he recieved significantly more game time and had also secured the Pumas 14 shirt as his own. Camacho wrote his name in the history books in his final match for the club as he scored the only try of the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup Final to give the London side a championship title, defeating Paris´ Stade Français. His impressive season cemented his place in the starting XV for Argentina for World Cup year and he, indeed, went on to be the teams starting right winger in Los Pumas´ key matches as he started all three crunch matches - vs England and Scotland in the group phase and vs New Zealand in the Quarter Final.   

Camacho tackles Ben Foden

Despite not scoring a try at the World Cup, Camacho was an important player for Los Pumas. It was his defence that seemed to leave the biggest impression as he showed the world that it does not take a big mane to put in a big tackle. His tackles vs England´s Ben Foden and New Zealand´s Richie McCaw were amongst the best of the tournament. He was able to shut down defences and see to it that Argentina would not be leaking tries down his side of the field. Teams tried hard to attack him but were unable to as he was able to keep big name players from England, Scotland and New Zealand at bay. 

His defence may well be what works out for him this year as Camacho´s place in Argentina´s starting XV is being challenged by the performances of Martín Bustos Moyano and Juan Imhoff in France and regular Pumas left winger, Horacio Agulla in England. All players are certain to feature for their country this year with Argentina having a much larger schedule that in previous years. The form and depth of Pumas wingers could well give the team an edge compared to Argentine teams of the past. 

Week One: Juan Manuel Leguizamón

Week Two: Lucas González Amorosino

Week Three: Marcelo Bosch

Week Four: Agustín Creevy

Week Five: Juan Martín Hernández 
Week Six: Martín Bustos Moyano
Week Seven: Leonardo Senatore

Week Eight: Rodrigo Roncero
Week Nine: Gonzalo Camacho
Week Ten: Patricio Albacete