Los Pumas working on mental aspect

Argentina scrum-half Martin Landajo says Los Pumas have been working to cope mentally with their gruelling Rugby Championship travelling schedule.

The Pumas have been to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in the past three weeks, travelling thousands of kilometres in the process.

They have brought in experts specialising in mental work to deal with the fatigue, jet-lag and homesickness that are all part and parcel of travel.

The Jaguares did it too in Super Rugby this season and it paid dividends when they went unbeaten on their tour of Australia in July, beating the Rebels 32-29 and the Waratahs 40-27.

“We’ve been working a lot in Super Rugby, we’ve been having a lot of people specialising in mental work, so it’s a good thing. It’s just new for us,” Landajo told reporters on Friday.

“In the past we just played rugby, we just trained and got onto the field and this year we’ve been talking about the mental thing and we’ve been working on it.

“We have tried to change the mental thing, we train well, we’re committed to the game but our head or mental part is the one that falls a bit, whether someone is tired, or we want to go back home.

“So, we talked a lot about that, we have little opportunity to train, so we talked a lot and watched lots of video and I think it’s more mental.

“The end of the season of Super Rugby, we had competed for nothing, but still we talk about the mental thing and I think we did two very good mental games.

“Our team is a good team that plays good rugby but when our head is in another place, we don’t play well.”