Cusworth's helping hand for Puma power

Les Cusworth has good reason to appreciate Argentina's winning double in Wales and Scotland. In his time as England's outside-half, he never tasted victory at Cardiff or Murrayfield. "Now, now," he said, when the fact was drawn to his attention. "Don't get cheap."

It is another fact that Los Pumas achieved their successes on the cheap – with the Union Argentina de Rugby staunchly upholding the game's amateur status in their country, insisting that their international representatives "play for the shirt", as Freddie Mendez, the former Bath and Northampton hooker and one-time right-hooker of Paul Ackford, put it.

They also achieved their triumphs with a little help from a friend whose coaching pedigree includes a famous victory at Murrayfield. England's triumph in the inaugural World Cup Sevens there in 1993 was plotted by Cusworth. It remains the only trophy-winning success at world level by a European coach.

The Pumas of 2001 were guided to their 25-16 win against Scotland last Sunday – and to their 30-16 victory against Wales eight days previously – by Marcelo Loffreda, a former Argentine centre, and his assistant coach, Daniel Baetti, a former scrum-half and full-back with the national side. They were more than ably assisted, though, by Cusworth, who has spent some of his time since his departure from his director's role at Worcester conducting coaching courses for coaches in Argentina.

"I've just been helping out Marcelo and Daniel, literally as a friend," Cusworth said. "They're amateur coaches with very, very few resources and I've been helping them with video analysis of the opposition – looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, then talking to them about the best way for Argentina to adapt their strategy. We had a look at Wales' games over the past 12 months and Scotland's games over the past 12 months.

"Marcelo and Daniel have done most of the coaching and their results have been unbelievable, really, when you consider the lack of time the players are together. Most of them are scattered in Europe. They only met up a week before the Wales game. They just got on with it – with a lot of passion and a lot of skill.

"My ties with Argentina are pretty strong; my partner's Argentine. And it's really refreshing to see what Argentina have achieved, because the game is strictly amateur there. No coaches or players can be paid. And the game is thriving. It's really developing at a pace at grass-roots level."

And at international level, too. The Pumas have long been capable of wounding the fat cats of world rugby, particular in their home lair, but their claws have sharpened to a significant degree in the past three years. They knocked out the Irish, of course, en route to the last eight of the 1999 World Cup. And since that fighting quarter-final defeat against the French in Dublin they have held the Wallabies to seven points in Canberra and the Springboks to four points in Buenos Aires.

They have also shown an all-round assurance that has given the lie to their long-time reputation as a 16-legged scrummaging machine with a few loose attachments behind. The tries they scored against the Welsh and the Scots – pouncing on two ill-judged Iestyn Harris kicks and a Jon Petrie spill – were executed with clinical back-line precision. And both games were dictated from start to finish by their dynamic half-back duo, Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi, the Batman and Robin of Bristol.

"They know how to control a game of rugby – that's for sure," Cusworth enthused. "They kick astutely and they're very lively. They have a good pack of forwards in front of them. And they're very clear about their strengths and limitations.

"The same goes for the team all round. They're a well-balanced side who know what they're doing. They're not just a big scrummaging outfit. They're a lot more than that. And they're still learning. A lot of the stuff about defence and structures that Jack Rowell brought in from rugby league six or seven years ago is just starting to filter through down there." So is the realisation that Pichot, Contepomi and Co. cannot be expected to play without pay for much longer.

"The clubs in Argentina could never sustain professional rugby," Cusworth said, "but I think at some stage the national side will go professional in some form. On this tour everyone had the same allowance, whether you were doctor or captain, which I think is refreshing really. It might not be music to the players' ears in the short term, but you've got to smile at the principle."

You have to smile, too, at the prospect of the upwardly mobile amateurs taking on the ultimate rugby union professionals at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.

"I'm in the process of analysing videos of the All Blacks at the moment, actually," Cusworth said. "Not that it takes much analysing, does it? You know about the pace and the power and the handful they are before you start.

"You've got to be realistic about it. Argentina will give them a game, yes, but the All Blacks are a different class. If Argentina hold them to 20 points they'll have done well."

Argentina have never beaten the All Blacks. Their English strategist has accomplished that particular achievement, though. "Twice in a week, mate," Les Cusworth said, recalling his famous double with the Midlands and with England in 1983.