Pumas still fuming at fixture list

Loffreda, who already voiced his discontent with his side’s cramped fixture list, re-stated his argument after making six changes to the team which beat Namibia last weekend — including the novel step of appointing his third different skipper in as many games.

“We have two games in four days, it is not long enough,” he said. “We were supposed to be the seeds in the group and the way the fixtures have worked out favours Ireland. Maybe it is because we are regarded as a second rate rugby nation, but it is not right.

“If we had seven days to prepare for Sunday’s match, like Ireland have, we might do things differently but, as it is, we have to use our resources in the best way we can.”

So far, only number eight Gonzalo Longo is a fitness concern for the Ireland encounter, with inflammation of his Achilles tendon. However, all that might change today with Loffreda expecting a rough, physical battle with a Romanian side anxious to impress after their 90-point hammering by Australia at the weekend.

“We know they are going to be very physical and they have strength in their forward pack, so we know we will have a strong battle there, that is why we have chosen this team,” he said.

“When a team suffers the kind of defeat they did to Australia, you never quite know how they will react.”

Significantly, Mario Ledesma, who performed badly against Australia, is named as Pumas hooker, suggesting former Northampton front-row Federico Mendez is being held back to face the Irish.

Like Mendez, the experienced half-back duo, Agustin Pichot and Gonzalo Quesada, have been allocated bench spots just in case the game does not go as Loffreda plans.

Martin Gaitan should have been in France with Biarritz following the progress of his Puma compatriots from the comfort of his sitting room.

However, when team captain and centre Lisandro Arbizu ruptured his right anterior cruciate ligament, ruling him out of the tournament, Gaitan’s plans changed drastically.

“I found out about one week before we came here,” Gaitan explained. “I was in France and I didn’t even know Arbizu had got injured. They called me and said ‘you have to come here to Argentina’. I spent three or fours days training and then I came here. It all happened very fast. I still find it hard to believe.”

So while the Biarritz centre travelled to the World Cup, he was still expecting to be a mere spectator, albeit one with a ringside seat on the bench.

All that changed with a hat-trick of tries against the hapless Namibians last week; now Gaitan finds himself in from the start again today with a place against Ireland possibly up for grabs if he impresses against the Romanians.