Argentina celebrates a call. Photo: AFP
Imhoff hopes to help Pumas write Rugby World Cup history
Pumas star Juan Imhoff is certain that the Rugby World Cup in his adopted country of France is “bound to be magnificent”.
Argentina celebrates a call. Photo: AFP
Juan Imhoff is certain that the Rugby World Cup in his adopted country of France is “bound to be magnificent” following his Argentina recall after he was overlooked in 2019.
Pumas out to write Rugby World Cup history
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The 35-year-old outside back, who has been a member of Racing 92 in Paris since 2011, competed for the Pumas in the 2011 and 2015 World Cups but was left off of the squas in 2019 because Argentina decided not to pick any players plying their trade outside of their country.
“I really want to be part of the Argentine national team, and that was one of my motivations at club level this year: to be the best I can be at Racing and give the Pumas coach doubts,” Imhoff told AFP.
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“My absence in 2019, even if it was for political reasons made me change my way of seeing things, and you realise what you have when you don’t have it anymore.
“I’m not the fastest, the most talented, the best player, but I’ll be the most committed”.
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The best-ever Rugby World Cup
He feels the 2023 Rugby World Cup, could be the best ever.
“It’s bound to be magnificent,” he said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think it’ll be the best ever, given the commitment of the French.”
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We eat dirt so we can enjoy caviar
Imhoff says that the Pumas are out to prove their critics wrong at the Rugby World Cup.
“When you’re an outsider like we are, you’re motivated by everything that’s said about you. We eat dirt, as they say, so that when we taste the caviar, we can enjoy it.
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“We will give everything to write history,” he added.
“In a player’s head, there’s always the hope, the belief, that you can be world champion. When you dream of it, when it’s within your grasp, why not give everything to get there?”
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Stiff task in France
Argentina kick off their Pool D programme against England on September 9 in Marseille before facing Samoa and then neighbours Chile and finally Japan.
“Our group isn’t an easy one,” he said.
“We have to win every match, except that the decisive matches come very early, so after the first two weeks, we’ll already have an idea.
“We want to be in the quarter-finals, and we can be. But we’re also not going to lie to ourselves and say that we’ve got an easy group and that because we beat England at Twickenham, we’re going to beat them again. On the contrary, I think we’ll have to work hard.”
