Agustín Pichot´s try in 2007 Top 14 Final

Three months before the kick-off of Rugby World Cup 2007, Stade Français took on Clermont Auvergne in the Top 14 Final at the same venue as the sports showcase tournament´s opening fixture - the Stade de France. The match marked history with a foreign player, Agustín Pichot, captaining a team to glory in French rugby. Pichot´s try in the 68th minute was the first of the match and proved to be the turning point in the final as Clermont had been leading 15-9 with Australian Brock James responsible for all his teams points thanks to his goalkicking. The try  was a great way of showing kids the art of the scrumhalf position as Pichot bossed around his forwards to advance with the players doing what they were told. At the same time he remained in constant contact with his flyhalf and with Stade Français four metres from the try line and looking dangerous Pichot sold a dummy pass to his flyhalf which Clermont bought 

Pichot was joined by three fellow Pumas in the Stade Français team that evening. Rodrigo Roncero and Pedro Ledesma were the teams starting props and Juan Martín Hernández was the flyhalf. There was a forth Argentine in the team with the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse coming off the bench in the secondhalf. Clermont also had three Argentine players with Mario Ledesma starting at hooker and Martín Scelzo at tighthead prop and backrower Gonzalo Longo entered the match as a secondhalf replacement. 

Hernández was the player of the match and was in the best form of his career he landed the conversion to put Stade Français in the lead. Clermont reclaimed the lead with James landing his sixth penalty but it was to be Stade Français´day as Hernández threw a long cut out pass to Australian international Radiki Samo who dived over in the corner. With Hernández´s conversion, the Parisians claimed the title with a 23-18 victory.

For complete highlights of the match see here.

Pumas Players Remain in High Demand

The transitional year of 2012 threatened to tear apart Argentine rugby as European clubs were not happy with having to release players for international duty in The Rugby Championship. The Southern Hemisphere competition will finish in October, meaning players involved will miss the pre-season and early rounds of the season in Europe. Racing Métro and the Leicester Tigers had both stated that they were not impressed and would not be looking at signing Pumas players in the future. The pendulum has swung, however, as the same two clubs are showing no signs of ending contracts with Pumas players. Racing Métro are in the process of trying to resign Juan Martín Hernández with the flyhalf also having been given official offers to return to Stade Français or play Super Rugby for the Blues in Auckland. Similarly, while Leicester had said it won´t be resigning Horacio Agulla the player himself is still in negotiations with the club and has continues to do the talking on the field having been nominated as Leicester´s player of the month for the second time this season.

Ayerza staying at Leicester

Agulla´s Leicester and Pumas teammate, Marcos Ayerza has finalized talks with Leicester over his involvement in The Rugby Championship with the club accepting his involvement rather than giving him the choice os staying at Leicester or playing for Argentina.Other clubs are not being put off resigning their Pumas stars. Stade Français is a club with many Pumas and it could have more soon if Hernández does return from Racing Métro. The club is negotiating a new deal with Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga for him to play for a further two or three years for the Paris club. Curiously, the club sees him as an inside centre rather than a fullback. This could very well be replicated by Santiago Phelan who initially selected Rodríguez Gurruchaga as an inside centre in 2009.