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The reason Julian Montoya has ‘faith’ in his Pumas for England date
Argentina skipper Julian Montoya has spoken about what is giving him great confidence about his team ahead of their Rugby World Cup campaign which opens with the heavyweight Pool D fixture versus England next Saturday in Marseille.
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With the English enduring a horrible run of results under rookie Test-level head coach Steve Borthwick, the Pumas are favoured to get their tournament off to a winning start.
Fresh from finishing off their warm-up match preparations with a comfortable August 26 win over Spain in Madrid, Argentina are currently hunkered down at their La Baule-Escoublac base camp in Pays de la Loire ahead of their trip south to Marseille on Thursday.
At their arrival media briefing, Montoya, who plays his club rugby at Leicester in England, expressed his delight that the tournament was about to start with Argentina very optimistic about their chances of doing well.
“What do I expect from the team? What we have been doing since we started: train hard, enjoy living this experience and support each other. That we are authentic, that we express ourselves as we are, with the good and the bad. That we are together,” he said.
“We know that there will be very good moments and others that may not be so good, but we have to be prepared for all of that, which is what we have been doing since we started this road to Rugby World Cup.
“I have faith in the team and the tightness of the group. We are all on the same page, players and staff, and we trust the process we are doing.”
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It was 2007 – when the World Cup was last staged in France – that Argentina lit up the tournament with their third-place finish. A vast support followed them around the country 16 years ago and Montoya is thankful a similar size of support is expected in the coming weeks.
“I want to thank all the people who I know will come to see us at the games and those who will follow us on television from Argentina,” he said.
“We as a team always talk about sharing the jersey – we have the privilege of putting on the shirt and being here, but we represent an entire country.”
Coach Michael Cheika, who was in charge of the Australian team beaten by England in the 2019 quarter-finals, added: “There was a lot of preparation, not only the weeks in Portugal but also for the work done in Argentina. All our players are ready for the first game.
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“I have experience in World Cups, both XVs and rugby league, and I want to share that experience with my squad. We are only thinking about ourselves. I say it with being respectful: everything happening outside is a distraction for us.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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