Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentina rugby coach Daniel Hourcade has announced that he will step down from the role after the final June Test against Scotland in Resistencia next Saturday.
His team’s 30-12 defeat by Wales on Saturday at Santa Fe saw them slip to a 2-0 series loss.
The 60-year-old has been in charge of the national side since 2013 and led the Pumas to the World Cup semi-finals two years later.
But Argentina have struggled in the last 12 months — with Hourcade only able to call upon players from the Buenos Aires-based Super Rugby franchise Jaguares — losing all six of their 2017 Rugby Championship matches.
“We (with his assistants) think that the message is no longer getting through to the team, we’ve reached the end of a cycle,” Hourcade told the Argentinian federation’s website.
“We assume the responsibility of making this decision, having already mentioned the possibility… before the June Tests.”
Argentina, who have only won two of their last 12 Test matches, have been placed in a tough pool for next year’s World Cup in Japan alongside England, France, the United States and Tonga.
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