BUENOS AIRES, March 7 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s World
Cup-winning coach Graham Henry will help fine tune the Pumas for
their Rugby Championship debut season, the Argentine Rugby Union
(UAR) said on Wednesday.
The UAR said it had signed Henry, whose All Blacks won New
Zealand’s second World Cup last year, as a consultant with a
particular view to improve coaching at Argentina’s high
performance centres.
“We must copy the good things (in world rugby). The UAR must
continue to train its coaches so they get better and better to
face our commitments,” UAR president Luis Castillo told a news
conference.
Argentina face New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in
the new four-nation Rugby Championship, their first ever top
level annual competition, between Aug. 18 xx and Oct. 6.
“(Henry’s) task will be to give his technical advice. He
likes Argentina, the feeling of Argentine players (for the game)
and he’ll help players take a leap in quality,” said Manuel
Galindo, head of the UAR’s high performance rugby sub-committee.
“He’s going to work with the trainers, doing coaching.”
Galindo said Argentina sought three key changes to the way
the Pumas were run, first signing up the entire coaching staff
full time.
Argentina, whose professional players have so far only played
abroad mainly in Europe, have also given contracts to a number
of home-based players.
“The third big step we had to take was to get a person who
could shorten the distance (with our rivals) in the tournament
we are going to take part in,” Galindo said.
“We chose a coach who best knows them,” he said, referring
to the three major southern hemisphere rugby nations.
“We set ourselves the dream of getting the best or one of
the best coaches in the world. We’ve been talking for three
months and (the deal) was signed on Sunday night.”
(Reporting By Rex Gowar, editing by Ed Osmond)
