1 week Ago By Irishexaminer.com
If there’s one man who can give Cian Healy a run for his money in the longevity stakes, it is surely his Argentine front-row adversary Francisco Gomez Kodela. The Stade Francais tighthead prop came off the bench in last Saturday’s 50-18 win over Italy in Udine at the age of 40, three years older than loosehead Healy, who is set to win his 132nd cap and join Brian O’Driscoll as Ireland’s record-equalling appearance maker. Yet Kodela is also looking to make amends for a 53-7 hammering by Ireland on his last visit to Dublin in November 2021.
“We’ll see if they need me or not but it will be nice to play one more time in Dublin, I love playing there.” Kodela conceded that these of end of season tours for Argentina have not always seen the Pumas at their best. “It’s no easy because you have to go and play teams in their top shape whereas we come from the Rugby Championship, which is a lot of travel between six top-level games in different time zones and it’s not easy.
And then you have a couple of weeks of having to go back to your club when they need you in between. “And then you come to November it’s the last games of the year for us and it’s quite tiring but these are all big games. It’s never easy playing Ireland in Dublin or France in Stade de France, it’s very demanding mentally and physically so that’s maybe some of the answers to that in the past.
“But it’s a beautiful tour this year so we’re hopeful of some good results.” Last Saturday’s big win over the Italians was a continuation of some strong recent form which saw Felipe Contepomi’s Pumas score a win apiece over New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in this year’s Rugby Championship and the former Biarritz, Bordeaux and Lyon front-rower described to the Irish Examiner an Argentine squad in rude health and enjoying life under their new boss, the former Leinster fly-half and attack coach. “We’ve been having a good time together since I came back in 2020 and it’s been a very good atmosphere.
We are enjoying training hard and going out there and playing. We had a very nice Rugby Championship and so it’s good times. “There hasn’t been a big change with Felipe coming on, more like a continuation of what was done before.
He’s a really good coach and before he was the backs coach with Michael Cheika but he’s bringing more to the team now he’s the main coach and he’s calling the shots now. It’s good. “It’s still the same way of training but I think he learned a lot when he was in Dublin with Leinster and it’s very interesting for us, the way he speaks about the game.
“And our squad is a good mix because we have some different angles, some boys from Toulouse, from Bordeaux, La Rochelle, who are playing finals rugby all the time and when they come into the national squad that brings a lot to the team in terms of knowing how to win. So when we get together we get a good mix.” Kodela has another visit to Ireland to contemplate when the Autumn Nations Series is concluded, a first visit to visit to Thomond Park when Stade Francais play Munster in the opening round of this season’s Champions Cup pool stages on December 7.
“It will be my first time in Munster if I get the chance to play. It’s a big stadium, I’ve been fortunate to play at Leinster before but never in Munster. "Everybody seems to love playing in Thomond Park but it’s also very difficult to win there so it’s to have them in the pool and to go and play against them there.
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