Mick Cleary: Argentina will draw on something deeper than team spirit

What is heartening is that los Pumas have managed to withstand the upheaval of Covid, the disbanding of their Super Rugby franchise, los Jaguares, and come together once again to show the world that rugby is very much a high-achieving sport in the country.

ARGIE BARGIE: Creevy celebrates with his teammates at Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

You heard the noise first, a gurgling, giggling swell of energy, the sound soon followed by the sight of a gaggle of blue-and-white shirted Pumas’ players in the bowels of the Stade de France, jumping and shrieking with joy as they gate-crashed the French players’ mixed zone (and, no, the French were not happy bunnies) following their 17-12 victory to claim third place in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

And here they are again, seemingly the self-same sort of collective, a ‘band of brothers,’ as Matias Moroni termed his pals in the wake of his side’s gutsy, claw-back 29-17 win over Wales in Marseille, their deep-rooted spirit epitomised by the manner in which Moroni hurled himself at Rio Dyer in the closing minutes to deny Wales what might have been a match-clinching score. That tackle came from the soul as much as the body.