The UBB Agents: Petti, Cordero and Delguy (from left to right).
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Romain Perrocheau / AFP - DANIEL VAQUERO / SIPA
For several months, Argentinian players have been invited to find a club far from their country by their federation on the brink of the abyss due to the health crisis.
French clubs like UBB did not hesitate to seize the opportunity with internationals like Guido Petti and Bautista Delguy.
The two Argentines have joined their compatriot Santiago Cordero and are making the heyday of the Bordeaux club.
Adapt.
This is perhaps the first quality of a good Argentinian rugby player.
Indeed for fifteen years, it is not always easy for Pumas to navigate.
In the 2000s, they tumbled into Europe at the same time that their selection exploded at the highest level (3rd in the 2007 World Cup then quarter-finalist in 2011 and 4th in 2015).
Then, like other federations with it, the URA (Union Argentina de Rugby) then decides to prohibit the selection of players who do not play in the country, in particular in the Jaguares franchise which has just joined Super Rugby.
Problem, the results no longer follow.
In 2018, this same federation opens the door again with a quota of players playing abroad in its team and then finally opens it completely a few months ago due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
To the point of outright pushing his own players to leave the country to continue playing because of suspended Super Rugby, canceled summer tours and especially the financially strapped federation.
Since then, it has been a real exile!
And the Top 14 and Pro D2 clubs happily take advantage of this to strengthen themselves: Petti and Delguy (UBB), Paulos (Brive), Kremer (Stade Français), Boffelli (Racing), Gonzalez and Montagner (Mont-de-Marsan) , De la Fuente (Perpignan), Dimcheff (Soyaux-Angoulême), Mensa (Valence-Romans) or Bruni (Vannes).
Agentins Delguy, Cordero, Kremer and Petti (from left to right) - David Gray / AFP
Petti, the opportunity
Among these clubs, there are some which really did not miss the boat, it is the Union Bordeaux-Bègles.
While the UBB already had one of the best Argentinian players in the Top 14 in its ranks with winger Santiago Cordero (seven tries in eight games this season), Laurent Marti's club enlisted Guido Petti just before the start of season and Bautista Delgy in recent weeks.
The 26-year-old second line looks back on his surprise arrival last summer:
It was a difficult time, everything happened very quickly.
I was made to understand that going abroad, if I had the opportunity, would be a good solution.
"
It's not easy to leave the cocoon for those who are part of the first generation of Argentine players to have made a career in the country.
And above all for economic reasons linked to the pandemic.
Top 14: Heard by UBB, Guido Petti will replay after his racist tweets https://t.co/69DfpTmopC via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/EEcOYRKIJc
- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) December 10, 2020
But it is not Christophe Urios who will complain.
Even if it was necessary to manage the controversy around his racist tweets, published in 2012, when he returned to the selection for the Rugby Championship last November, Guido Petti had made an excellent start to the season before that.
“He is a world-class player (53 selections including two World Cups).
He's very strong in touchdown, very smart, quick in the game, big tackle, huge worker, a strong guy.
He has the qualities of an Argentinian and sometimes also those of a New Zealander, ”lists his manager.
Whoever took part in the Pumas' historic victory against New Zealand in the fall also has the big advantage of being able to play in the second or third row.
Delguy, the real find
And what can we say about his compatriot Bautista Delguy.
A real wisp of inimitable style with its old-fashioned socks at the ankles.
“True finisher” as Christophe Urios explains, the 23-year-old Argentinian winger-back in rugby sevens is a serial scorer (31 tries in 50 club games).
"He's an Argentinian, he has anger and it shows, admits his teammate Romain Buros, he is steeped in qualities, you almost have to control him from time to time but it is sure that he is a guy who will do us good ”.
And for the Bordeaux manager, “it is better to have players to channel than players to push!
“From his second match with UBB, Bautista Delguy scored twice against Lyon and missed the treble by just a few inches.
Like Santiago Cordero with whom "there is always something happening every time he has the ball in his hands" recalls Urios, the new Bordeaux recruit is one of those players considered to be X factors. UBB, there was a lack at this level since the departure of Semi Radradra and despite the recruitment of Ben Lam and the presence of Cordero.
It takes three to make you forget the Fijian center.
Christophe Urios, he is already impatient to be able to line up with his two Pumas wingers: "I can't wait to see them both".
The Top 14 too.
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