Argentines leave Agen Thunderstruck in Le Mans

Stade Français home win this past weekend at the Stade MM Arena in Paris was another example of the force of Argentina in French rugby as the 34 year old Pumas captain, Felipe Contepomi scored 26 points, including two tries and was joined by Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga and the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse on the scores sheet for Stade Français. On the other side of the coin, Belisario Agulla scored Agen´s first try of the match. Contepomi had a solid match as a playmaker as did Rodríguez Gurruchaga with both players creating opportunities for their colleagues and breaking the defensive line themselves. Though it would mean changes, the Parisian 10-12 combination does stand a chance of being used by Santiago Phelan this year.

The match was played in front of a big crowd at the Stade MM Arena in Le Mans located near the city of Nantes which hosted three matches at Rugby World Cup 2007. The region has no teams in the Top 14 with Paris and La Rochelle being the closest teams. La Rochelle is fighting to return to the Top 14 from the Pro d2 after finishing 13th last season in Fracne´s Top flight.

The official website of Stade Français posted a highlights video of the match featuring the song Thunderstruck by ACDC. The muric captures the performance of the Parisians who look certain to feature in the Top14 play-off´s after being absent for the past two years. The man at the helm of the teams turnaround has been Contepomi who is going against age and showing Toulon how poorly he was used by his former club. 

Les temps forts de Stade Français Paris - Agen - Stade TV
Retrouvez les temps forts du match Stade Français Paris - Agen au MMArena à l'occasion de la 21ème journée du TOP 14 Orange. 

Mots-clés : temps forts résumé le mans stade français paris agen mmarena top 14 orange essais

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Exeter Chiefs resign Ignacio Mieres

Two year extension for Ignacio Mieres

The bombshell that the Leicester Tigers management dropped in January due to the club likely to lose the services of winger Horacio Agulla to The Rugby Championship threatened to seriously harm Argentina rugby. It created a grave scenario in which Pumas players may well be forced into chosing their careers as professional rugby players or playing international rugby for their country. Thus far, however, the seriousness of the threats have failed to materialize and the evidence suggests that clubs are seeing that they cannot lose their star Pumas players. 

With Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga and Marcos Ayerza both having agreed to stay at Stade Français and Leicester already another player has today confirmed he is staying on with his European club. 24 year old  Ignacio Mieres has been a key player all season for the Exeter Chiefs, contributing in no small manner to the teams performances which have seen the club move to close to securing a first ever Heineken Cup place for next season. The club is also close to the Top Four of the Aviva Premiership. Mieres has been instrumental as a goalkicker and playmaker in general. He has played 22 matches, scoring 240 points for the club this season. The result is that Exeter has signed the player known in Argentina as Cangu for an additional two years. In an interview with Argentine site Scrum, Cangu made it clear that his intentions are to be a Puma and no longer a fringe player.

His form will, without question, see him earn an international call up and with Argentina´s first match of 2012 being vs Italy on the same day as the Top 14 Orange Final Mieres could even start at flyhalf for his country. A lot could well depend on who makes the French Final but Santiago Phelan will, nevertheless, be using his pencil to good effect with the name of Ignacio Mieres. A likely scenario is that players from the Top 14 Orange Barrage and Semi Finals stage who miss out on the Final will be rested for the Italian match at San Juan, with them likely to instead play vs France in Córdoba the following weekend.

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. 

Argentina to field Stade Français´ 10-12 combination?

Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga

There will be no Top 14 Orange action this weekend due to the final round of the Six Nations being played. As such all teams will be fresh and ready to return to action next weekend with the crunch time of the season now well and truly here. Only six rounds remain of the regular season with teams fighting it out for a place in the play-off´s or simply to stay in the Top 14. In the case of Stade Français, the team is in seventh place, two points behind fellow Parisians, Racing Métro and two and three points behind Castres and Montpellier. Castres will host Montpellier next round with the visitors a strong chance for a win. Stade Français will play host to Agen and should alo win, which would put the team back in the top six and get the teams up and down season back on track. 

Felipe Contepomi

Stade Français has been one of the best teams this season in particular matches but in others has been less successful. The teams has notched up some impressive wins but also some big losses against teams ranging from Montpellier to Bordeaux-Begles. The teams most recent match, in round 20, was a home match and was a landmark game as it was Paris vs Lyon, France´s two largest cities. Lyon are facing relegatrion and Stade Français are desperate for a return to the play-off´s and a placde in next seasons Heineken Cup. The key to whether or not this eventuates for Stade Français or not seems to sit on the shoulders of one man - Felipe Contepomi. He has been, at times in outstanding form this season and has formed a solid 10-12 combination with fellow Argentine international, Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga. The pair were important players in Stade Français´win over Lyon last Saturday. Rodríguez Gurruchaga scored a try while Felipe Contepomi was involved in creating a number of the Parisians´ tries. He also had a solid afternnon with the oot, scorign 20 points. 

The combination is one that could well be replicated at international level this season with the form of Lucas González Amorosino likely to see the Montpellier back used instead of Ródriguez Gurruchaga at fullback. It is a position which he has played at before for Los Pumas. With Felipe Contepomi and Marcelo Bosch both injured in 2009 he made his debut for Argentina at inside centre vs England. More recently he played in the same position vs Romania at last years World Cup. Since returning to club duty, he has been used as Stade Français´ first choice inside centre. Could it be that Contepomi and Rodríguez are Argentina´s 10-12 combination this year?

Les temps forts de Stade Français Paris - Lyon - Stade TV