Felipe Contepomi, head coach

On Facing Spain, Fiji and Canada in Pool C:

“As I was saying during the November window, despite the draw, what is important is how you arrive as a team to October 2027. There’s still plenty of time for that, 22 months.

“It’s interesting to play against Fiji, whom we haven’t faced many times in recent years, but we know the team they are and the surprises they often pull off in World Cups.

“Then there’s Spain, which has many Argentinians, adding an extra element, and Canada, a team that’s been improving.”

On the format used in Rugby World Cup 2027:

“It was in a similar format at the 1999 Rugby World Cup [which he played in], but qualifying for the playoffs was different.

"This new system means you'll have seven week of competition instead of eight. There will be more parity with everyone playing every six or eight days. We'll see how it goes. Right now, I'd say it's fantastic. I see it from a positive perspective because more teams can qualify for a Rugby World Cup. These are unique moments; it is the biggest event we have in rugby and I think it's great."

On whether his plans change now that he knows his opponents:

"Planning doesn't change at all. How we want to prepare and how we want to develop for the World Cup doesn't change because of the opponent. We want to go as far as possible in the tournament and for that, we can't speculate; we have to get there in the best possible shape."

"We need to focus on improving week by week, not on having one more or less point in the rankings. If you improve, there's a greater chance of being higher in the rankings.

"You can't control the draw, and there are many other variables that we can't manage either, so we don't put as much energy into it, but we do focus on what we can control."

On how the tournament can go after the pool stage:

"Logic often doesn't prevail in World Cups, so that doesn't worry me too much. These are things you can't control: the group, the play-off bracket. Now that we know which group we're in and the possible path forward, the best thing is to analyse, plan, schedule, and study so we can give our best performance at the RWC."

On what it means to be at a RWC:

"The World Cup is such a big event that everything is magnified ten-fold compared to a test match or other competition. The intensity, the pressure, the energy - everything is exponential.”

On the match schedule that will be published in 2026:

“It is something that doesn't worry me. There is a statistic that isn’t very positive for us, which says that Los Pumas only won their first match of a Rugby World Cup in 2007; after that, they always lost, but it’s just that, a statistic.

“When we know the schedule, we’ll prepare accordingly, knowing how many rest days we have, the opponents, the travel, etc. There’s a lot to plan.”