Los Pumas 7’s They have been passing through for some time a path of constant improvement. This Sunday they won the Vancouver Sevens for the third consecutive time, which at the same time was their third consecutive victory in the 2024 season of the specialty world circuit. Thus they ratified the great present of a team that is pure forcefulness and that, by dint of triumphs and good play, it became the best Argentine team, taking out the soccer team led by Lionel Messiand is increasingly a candidate to win the gold medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The numbers back up that claim. Four dates have been played this season. The Argentines played in all the finals and have accumulated seven in a row counting those from last season.
In those four decisive duels they scored 119 points and received only 41. In none of them did they score more than 12. They only stumbled in the first, in Dubai, at the beginning of December last year, when they lost to South Africa. A week later they climbed to the top of the podium in Cape Town by beating Australia. And they started 2024 with everything, with the celebrations at the end of January in Perth against the home team and on Sunday in Vancouver against New Zealand.
By beating the United States in the semis in that Canadian city, they reached 17 games in a row without defeats in the same competition and broke South Africa’s record (16 between 2021 and 2022). And with the victory against the New Zealanders, they extended their winning streak on the circuit to 15, improving the one they had established in 2004, with their coach Santiago Gomez Cora even as a player.
With the number of medals they won this season, they have accumulated 9 golds, 16 silvers and 21 bronzes in their history on the circuit. And they lead the ranking with 78 points, 24 more than their second team: Ireland and Fiji.
This enormous moment is the result of years of work by a team that has a good game, mentality and personality to bank and reverse difficult moments. She proved it once again in the final against the All Blacksin which they came back from 0-12 to win 36-12.
“Faced with new adversities, the team knew how to carry out games with little rugby but with a lot of self-love. This decrease in performance is also part of a championship and the journey of a group. The good thing is that giving everything is not negotiable; delivery is always valid“, commented Gómez Cora after the victory.
“That speaks of the kids’ temperance to not despair. Because the opponent plays great, New Zealand was in the final for a reason. You had to be patient. Some time ago it happened to us that desperation to go look for it or frustration would appear. Now they never look up to see the result or the time“, he analyzed in a conversation with Scrum.com.
One of the great qualities of this team is that it shines beyond its proper names. It doesn’t matter if those who take the field are Matías Osadczukcaptain until last year, Marcos Moneta y Rodrigo Isgro, probably the best-known faces of the team; either James Alvarez Fourcadewho put on the tape, Luciano González Rizzoni o Tobias Wadetwo who, together with Osadczuk, were part of the ideal team for the Vancouver final.
“As a team we are in a place where whoever enters gives everything and does it in a better way than before. We are working very well. It is difficult to put into words what we are experiencing. It was many years of work,” analyzed Álvarez Fourcarde.
González, author of a try in the duel against the New Zealanders (the others were Moneta, Osadczuk (3) and Matteo Graziano), assured: “This team is already a family. Entering a court and enjoying how we are enjoying and having the results happen is a pampering for the soul. “We are happy for that and for giving joy to the Argentines.”
The great season of the Pumas 7’s is not a surprise. Yes, it is a confirmation that the team does not stop growing. After winning gold at the Pan American Games in Lima 2019 and the Olympic bronze in Tokio 2020they made a leap in quality in the 2021/22 campaign of the circuit, in which they finished fourth with five medals and They ended a thirteen-year drought without titles.
In 2022/23 they raised the bar. They won in Hamilton, Vancouver and London, and took silver in Los Angeles, Singapore and Toulouse, to finish runners-up behind New Zealand. This is how they secured the place for the Olympic event in Paris 2024to which they will arrive (except for some major surprise) as the top favorites. And in the current season, which started shortly after revalidating the Pan American title in Santiago, Chile, they quickly became the main protagonists.
What is the secret of this evolution? Perhaps the constant search to continue improving.
“The ambition is to always be better every day. We never set out to win or seek a result. We propose game actions and there are still actions to work on. We still have a lot to correct,” commented Gómez Cora when asked about the ceiling of the team, which will play again this weekend in Los Angeles.
And he closed: “I feel enormous pride and honor not only for having reached so many finals but because This team managed to stay at the top for the last three years.. That speaks about our rugby, our clubs, our good training, that if we work hard we can achieve these things. We were never up there that long. Keeping them focused is complex. And having achieved it is a reflection of the great maturation of this group.”