‘Super Rugby helping Pumas’ – Hourcade

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Argentine coach Daniel Hourcade believes Super Rugby exposure is giving his side the experience to contest at the highest levels.

The Argentine coach says playing against the best sides in the club competition will help them achieve victory in the next Rugby World Cup. 

"Playing New Zealand and Australia is helping us continue to gain experience, to improve our game and to continue to grow as we build towards our main objective, the 2019 World Cup," Hourcade told the All Blacks website.

"Each opponent we face in the meantime will be part of that process and whether we win or not will depend on what we do on the field, but the goal always is to achieve the best possible result," he said.

He added it was helpful to have played the two trans-Tasman sides recently because it gave an accurate measure of differences between the sides in different areas of the game.

"It allows you to better analyse and emphasise the details for each match," he said.

"It is a long and hard season, but it's just what we wanted. We have to adapt but the experience we have had with Super Rugby has helped the Pumas.

"I have no doubt that this is helping us grow and will help us meet our goals," he said.

Argentina host the All Blacks in Buenos Aires this weekend but may have to do without the services of inspirational captain Agustín Creevy who sustained an injury in Argentina's loss to Australia last week.

Creevy and lock Guido Petti were being evaluated during the week to see if they can play. Juan Martín Hernández is out for a month due to a meniscus injury.