OSAKA, 27 Sep – Benjamin Urdapilleta has waited a long time for his chance at a Rugby World Cup for Argentina and receives his chance at fly-half against Tonga on Saturday.
He takes the place of Nicolas Sanchez, top scorer at RWC 2015, pictured below, and takes the responsibility for guiding the Pumas after their defeat against France.
Urdapilleta, pictured at training above, played his first match for Argentina in December 2007, against Chile in San Juan at the South American Games. He scored a try and four conversions.
He then won several caps in minor tournaments until June 2012, when he played against France in his first Tier 1 match. But since 2013 he had failed to break into the Argentina team until he received Mario Ledesma's call to be part of Japan 2019 squad.
He left Club Universitario de Buenos Aires (CUBA) at a young age to play at professional level in Europe. Harlequins (England) was his first team, followed by French teams Oyonnax and now Castres.
Now 33, he even faced Los Pumas while playing for the French Barbarians, when the side coached by Daniel Hourcade were preparing to compete at RWC 2015. The following year, all Argentinians playing in foreign countries were banned from the national side.
Urdapilleta won the French Top 14 in 2018 and was chosen Most Valuable Player of the final when Castres beat Montpellier.
When he was appointed, Ledesma asked that an exception be made to the rule and that is how Urdapilleta was selected for the training squad for the Rugby Championship, until injury ruled him out.
He recovered and saw action off the bench in the warm-up game against South Africa in Pretoria. He only needed a few minutes to convince the coaching staff that he was ready for the RWC.
After Ledesma announced that he will be starting at fly-half against Tonga, Urdapilleta said: "I am really happy, enjoying the moment and anxious for the match to arrive.
"I have to do the things that put me on Mario's (Ledesma) radar. I guess that I am here because of my experience playing big games, the way I organise the team, the game vision I have, how I get my team-mates confident and how they feel comfortable with me.
"During a game, if I see an opportunity, I take it, but first I do fulfil what the coaching staff asks, which is the gameplan, and I feel good about it."
On Tonga, Urdapilleta said: "Tonga is not a team that makes a lot of passes, instead they play a very physical game, whether they are on defence or attack. They are not an organised team, so we will need to focus and play quick balls so that we keep them moving around the field."
RNS jc/jg/fo/ns