Ex-Pumas Quesada and Contepomi duel again as coaches of Italy and Argentina

Argentina comes up against an Argentine coach for the first time in test rugby on Saturday.

Gonzalo Quesada, the coach of Italy, admits he’ll have mixed emotions in Udine.

Until kickoff.

“It is going to be a special day, it is true,” Quesada told Argentine daily La Nacion this week. “I am playing against the shirt I consider my own, the Pumas, and I will sing my national anthem. But at the same time I am coaching Italy, my commitment is to Italy, and I respect it 100%.”

Rugby ties between the countries run deep. Between 1880 and 1980, an estimated 15 million Italians left the country permanently, establishing Little Italys all over the world. Then their children, curious about the old country, returned, and some became Italy’s greatest rugby players.

Diego Dominguez remains Italy’s highest point-scorer, after two 1989 caps for the Pumas. Italy’s two most capped players, Sergio Parisse and Martin Castrogiovanni, came to the country in their late teens.

Center Juan Ignacio Brex in the current squad has Argentine origins while six of the Pumas squad play professionally in Italy. Only two, however, will feature on Saturday, prop Thomas Gallo and flyhalf Tomas Albornoz, who will face 13 of their Benetton Treviso clubmates.

“Italy and Argentina are always a special match,” Pumas coach Felipe Contepomi says. “Many of our surnames or our families come from Italy. They are like brothers or cousins. We are very close. In my opinion, we speak Spanish with an Italian accent.”

Coaches have history

Quesada and Contepomi go way back. They were Pumas backs from the late 1990s, often 10 and 12, and went to two Rugby World Cups. Quesada was established first and the highest scorer at the 1999 World Cup. Quesada eventually vied with Contepomi for the flyhalf spot and finished after the 2003 World Cup.

While Contepomi went on to a Hall of Fame career, Quesada started remaking his name in coaching. He was a specialist for the France sides which won the 2010 Six Nations Grand Slam and reached the 2011 World Cup final. He was on Mario Ledesma’s 2018 Pumas staff, and coached the 2019 Jaguares to their first Super Rugby final. He remains close to many of those Jaguares who are current Pumas.

Quesada, regarded as more of a thinker, and Contepomi, considered bolder, are in their first year as national coaches, and already achieved banner seasons.

Quesada led Italy to its best Six Nations ever with wins over Scotland and Wales and a draw with France.

Contepomi guided Argentina to its best Rugby Championship ever after beating South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in one campaign for the first time.

Italy’s last test was demolishing Japan 42-14 in Sapporo in July, and the side is largely intact, giving it hope of a first home win over the Pumas in 26 years.

Argentina opens its autumn tour of Europe with an almost entirely new backline, ravaged after losing the Rugby Championship decider to South Africa 48-7 in September.

Stadio Friuli, the intimate 25,000-seat modern home of soccer’s Udinese, will host a rugby test for only the second time. By a quirk of fate, it fronts on to Piazzale Repubblica Argentina.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby