THERE were signs even when the anthems were playing of just how much Saturday's second Test meant to Argentina's Juan Fernandez Lobbe.
The popular Sale flanker lost himself in emotion as the Argentine song played out, gripping his brother Ignacio in the line-up, tears cascading down his face. He could not let his brother go when the squad broke up to prepare for the kick-off, and th
e thought of playing his last Test with Ignacio before he retired was clearly at the forefront of his mind.
During the game, too, he twice had to be warned to calm down, once handing Scotland a penalty by grappling with Chris Paterson off the ball.
There is no doubting Fernandez Lobbe's passion for Argentine rugby, and he says there is nothing he would like more now than to see the Pumas welcomed more significantly into the world rugby firmament. And he particularly craves an invite to the Six Nations Championship.
"It's much easier to develop and perform well if you play ten or 11 games a year than playing three or six games," he said. "We are playing three games now in June and we don't even have all our players available for selection because they are in France and when they do come back later in the year, the coaches have just three games with everyone together.
"We play Italy later this month and then nothing for six months, so it will be difficult to stay in third in the world.
"That's why Argentina teams have all the heart, the passion and attitude and all that. It's because we know that we only have a few games, so we say let's put everything into that.
What I would like to see now for Argentine rugby is the IRB to give us a place with the other nations. I know people say we should be in the Tri Nations because we are in the southern hemisphere, but we are still a long, long way from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
"We are closer to Europe in many ways. For me, it would be better to join the Six Nations because 95 per cent of our players are playing in Europe."
The full article contains 379 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
