Pumas took risks to win – Hourcade

Editor

Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade explained that he asked his team to take risks as they booked their place in the World Cup semi-finals with a win over Ireland in Cardiff on Sunday.

Los Pumas played a magnificent all-round game, eventually running out 43-20 winners, as they demonstrated the gulf between the two hemispheres. 

And after four years in the Rugby Championship, Hourcade explained that this performance has been a long time in coming.

"I'm very happy obviously. We have met our second objective which is to play seven matches in the World Cup because we won playing good rugby at the World Cup," said Hourcade. 

"We played the rugby we wanted to develop, not for the whole 80 minutes but particularly at the start and end of the match.

"Yes I feel very proud about the way we played and the way we won and the ending as well. We did everything to avoid a try at the end. That's the heart that this team has. 

"For us the growth has been enormous since 2012. We started changing, we started building, it's not something that has just started. It goes a long way back. 

"You need time, you need to work on it. We had been doing it before but since that time it's been more important. On a yearly basis we've had a lot of preparation that lets you get used to it. 

"Today we've seen in the last three matches that the teams of the southern hemisphere are dominating the teams of the northern hemisphere.

"The message is always the same. To win we need to play, we need to take risks.

"We asked the players to do what they can do, not what they cannot. There will always be some mistakes but the most important thing is the conviction of what we can achieve."