VIDEO: Argentina believe they were robbed at Loftus
REACTION: Argentina coach Mario Ledesma feels that his team might have been hard done by during their 18-24 defeat to the Springboks in Pretoria on Saturday.
After the match, Ledesma focussed on his team’s “disallowed tries” and feels that one of them was a legitimate score.
“We had tries disallowed tonight [Saturday] and I thought one of them was a try. We were camped in their 22 a couple of times and they defended well.
Argentina thought they had got a winning score after Lucas Mensa crossed the tryline in the 77th minute.
However, the referee, assistant referee and TMO consulted and determined that Jerónimo de la Fuente had got in Vincent Koch’s way in the build up to the try, thus preventing him from tackling and the try was not allowed.
If Argentina had won the game it would have been a big boost ahead of the World Cup. However, Ledesma feels that his team has sent out a strong message ahead of the tournament.
“It is very difficult at altitude against South Africa, but we wanted to send a message and stand up.
“It has complicated my list a bit, which will be announced on Monday, but it showed that a week is a long time, if you compare last week to today.
“We still have a month before the World Cup. There is a lot to do but everything will fall into place,” vowed Ledesma.
“The situation is really dynamic and I do not see the four southern hemisphere teams making the semifinals like at the last tournament in 2015.
“Northern hemisphere teams have done their homework and they are really good sides as you can see by Wales winning 14 matches in a row and England 18 in succession between the World Cups, plus Ireland beating the All Blacks twice.”
This was Argentina’s ninth consecutive defeat since beating Australia 23-19 on the Gold Coast last September.
Skipper and flank Pablo Matera said part of their problem has been trying to shoehorn the Europe-based players into the Jaguares line-up that made the Super Rugby final this year.
“We have 10 players from teams in Europe and 30 from the Jaguares and one month ago we got together,” he said.
“We are trying to play one way, but sometimes it is difficult and does not work. But you could see that spark today [Saturday], we were really physical and had a good scrum.
“The pack gave space and time for the backs because we played hard on the gain line.”
