IT is going to be the end of an era when Argentina take to the field against Scotland on Saturday with their coach Daniel Hourcade due to hand over the reins to a new coach yet to be decided.
Defeats by Wales over the last fortnight were the final straws for him, and he told the players last week that this would be his last match in charge.
International players should not need any extra motivation, and certainly not in a country as fiercely patriotic as Argentina. But if the players did need something of a jolt, then Hourcade's departure will provide it.
"The players have been doing very well with the Jaguares this season but when they came here [the national training camp] they were not able to play well," he explained. "We considered that our message was not getting through to the players and so took the decision to step aside.
"I'm sad because you like to win, you want to win. On the other hand I'm also calm because I think I gave all I could during my time."
Hourcade has tried to oversee a wholesale change in approach to the way Argentina play, ditching the old fashioned, forward orientated strategy where the backs were basically there to defend and maybe run in the occasional try once the pack had blown the opposition away.
It has made them a more entertaining team to watch, but so far has failed to produce results away from the World Cup and Hourcade felt he had to ring the changes again this week to try to find the winning formula, switching half the pack and a couple of the backs.
"Some of them, we considered the physical strength they have because they have played too many games and have to keep playing. We had to make some changes," he explained.
"For Scotland, they have made seven changes in the pack [from the USA] and that is important. We expect a very tough Scotland team who will want to win; it will be a hard match.
"We saw a very good Scotland team in the Six Nations apart from the first game; a very good team, very dynamic. They are a very solid side who have kept what they used to have but are also trying to open out more and move the ball."
Argentina (all Jaguares): E Boffelli; B Delguy, M Orlando, B Ezcurra, S Cancelliere; N Sanchez, M Landajo; J Diaz, A Creevy (C), NT Chaparro, G Petti, M Alemanno, P Matera, Lezana, L Senatore. Replacements: J Montoya, S Garcia Botta, S Medrano, M Kramer, T Lavanini, G Bertranou, S Gonzalez Iglesias, JC Mallia
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