Brisbane (Australia) (AFP)
Rugby Championship officials apologized on Monday to the Argentina squad, furious at the omission of Julian Montoya in a photo of the captains of the four teams participating in the tournament.
The hooker and Pumas captain was the only one absent on Friday in the promotional photo gathering his counterparts from Australia (Michael Hooper), New Zealand (Ardie Savea) and South Africa (Siya Kolisi) around the trophy of this competition bringing together the four best nations of the southern hemisphere. The Argentina team had not yet arrived in Townsville, in northeastern Australia, where the fifth day of the competition was taking place, whose previous matches had been held further south on the Gold Coast.
Pumas coach Mario Ledesma, beside himself, denounced this “disrespectful” initiative on Saturday which “hurts” his team and his country.
"We're just asking to be treated fairly and with respect and in this case we weren't," said the former hooker.
"The Sanzaar and Rugby Australia teams apologize to the Argentina team for this error which led to the publication in the media of a photo which did not represent the Rugby Championship, as Argentina was missing" , responded the organizers in a statement.
La Sanzaar, the body which manages the tournament, added that they wanted to "thank the Argentines for their unwavering commitment to the Rugby Championship, in particular by having agreed to play all their away matches for two years".
Last year, the tournament took place without South Africa and all matches took place in Australia, due to travel restrictions linked to Covid-19.
For the same reason, the last four days of the tournament are being held this year in Queensland, Australia.
© 2021 AFP