Boks chiefs Hoskins wants Pumas to join Tri-Nations
“The sooner we can get Argentina in the Tri-Nations the better,” Hoskins has said. “I’m meeting with them in Buenos Aires on January 16. Rugby in Argentina needs a professional arm.
“The International Rugby Board is very eager to see Argentina playing in the Tri-Nations.
“Apart from the professional arm that needs to be established, rugby in Argentina also requires a culture of professionalism.
“Their top players are based in Europe and a plan has to be made to get them back to Argentina.”
Hoskins will report back to the SANZAR board after his meeting. He hopes Argentina will be able to contract their players at the end of their European stints.
“There is so much potential for rugby in Argentina,” he added. “They view South Africa as an older brother. Danie Craven and Izak van Heerden did a lot to promote rugby there. If we help them now, we are continuing the work of our predecessors.”
Hoskins did not rule out the possibility of an Argentinean side taking part in a future Currie Cup competition and said he hopes “two teams” from the South American country would be able to play in an expanded Super 14.
Meanwhile, French police are reportedly investigating allegations that former All Blacks rugby player Jerry Collins assaulted a woman.
Collins, who played 48 tests before retiring from international rugby last March, is playing for French club Toulon and denies the allegation.
Two French newspapers have reported differing accounts of the alleged incident: one said a woman claimed Collins pushed her into a gully, while another said she fell five metres into a gully as she tried to get into Collins’ house after following him home.
“I am morally and physically shattered. I had to spend six weeks on my back. I have a fractured sacrum, bruises, a twisted spine and a fractured wrist,” one newspaper reported the woman as saying.
However Toulon Rugby Club was standing by Collins yesterday. “We have made our own inquiries and it appears to us, according to witnesses we gathered together, that the player did nothing,” the club said.
Police are expected to make a decision on charges in the next few days.
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