Connacht coaches and players alike will probably not have any mixed emotions about seeing Santiago Cordero scoring his first try of the season in the Pumas’ distinctive sky blue and white hoops of Argentina in Udine last week.
Cordero was a replacement in Los Pumas’ impressive 50-18 win over Italy, and ran a clever support trailer off his wing to the opposite side of the pitch in availing of a break by Matias Moroni to step the last defender and scored their fifth of seven tries.
It was a classic finish by Cordero and his 16th try in 53 Tests. “It’s been a long time without scoring a try so I’m very happy with those few minutes, getting some touches and happy with the try,” said a smiling Cordero at the side of Wanderers’ main pitch following Los Pumas training session amid the leafy, well-heeled red bricked mansions of Merrion Road.
Connacht’s marquee signing has been an ever-present in their six URC games in this campaign after missing all but the final two games of last season due to the ACL injury he cruelly sustained upon arrival in Galway. In truth, Cordero has looked a little short of confidence, perhaps with that knee injury even more in mind on the 4G pitch at Dexcom Stadium.
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“It was tough, the knee still needed some time, and I think I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to play well in those few games,” he admitted, adding: “But the club, the staff and players were very good with me, helping me a lot. I think now I’m in a better moment or position than a couple of months before when I was playing with Connacht. I’m happy to be here but also can’t wait for after these couple of games to go back and play for them.”
It’s evident that Cordero has both a sense of debt and genuine affection and loyalty for Connacht, and helpfully he, his wife Bernadita and two young kids, Balthazar and Simon, adore their life in Galway.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful, beautiful,” he says smiling broadly. ”They have lots of love for Galway. We can’t complain, we’re very happy.”
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“Santi” hasn’t had much of a rest but this should be outweighed by the evident boost to his confidence from being called up by Felipe Contepomi to an environment they all clearly love.
He admits he has not had much of a break since first being recalled by Contepomi for the home series against France and game against Uruguay last July.
“But you’re always happy to be here. Everyone wants to be here. It’s always good to be here, no cooking, everything is served, sleeping well, so I can’t complain. I’m very, very happy. It means a lot for us to play here. Everyone will work super hard to be here, and it means a lot so everyone works harder to be one of the 15 or 23 on the pitch.”
Like many modern day Argentinian players they were inspired to take up rugby or pursue the sport more seriously by the past deeds of boyhood heroes at World Cups which, of course, have included three wins over Ireland, and Cordero was an impressionably 14-year-old when the 2007 vintage came along – Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (now forwards coach), Agustin Pichot, Juan Martín Hernández, Contepomi et al.
“Every young Argentinian when they are young starts kicking a football. I started very young, and then fell in love with rugby in school. And I just kept on going since I was 13. When I was young my first World Cup was 2007. They did a movie about that, I lost it now but I was a big fan of that.”
Having cut his teeth with Leinster and then under Michael Cheika with Los Pumas, Contepomi has made a huge impact.
“Yeah, you can see on the results and the data. We’re playing better, we’re more confident, and he is helping on every single point of it, whether mentally or physically. Everyone is very happy with him, you can see how we play and develop as a team. Everyone can see the change. We are very confident and very happy.”
As with Cordero himself, they can derive more confidence from last week’s victory,
“Yeah, it helps a lot because it’s not easy to come after a month without being together and in a week you have to prepare for an international match. So we’re happy with the result. We know there were some mistakes in our structure and everything, but the good thing is the result and how we came back from those errors. Now we have another great game, a tough game.
“Everyone knows Ireland are one of the best teams, very, very good. They play with a lot of intensity. It’s a very intense team so we know what’s coming and we need to focus on us, our structure and game plan, and hopefully everything will go our way.”
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