News from the tour of Argentina
Some Santa Fe facts
It was surprising that the touring Irish squad were obliged to make the near-500-kilometre trek northwards from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe on Wednesday by coach in readiness for Saturday's first Test. The journey through continual flat land takes in a chunk of the brown-tinged pampas south of Santa Fe, although as one Welsh colleague observed while on tour in Argentina last year, "once you've seen one pampas, you've seen them all".
Santa Fe, a university town of around 525,000 people, has never hosted a Test before and is patently thrilled to be doing so, while the billboard and television advertising campaign for both Tests is noticeably more prominent than during Ireland's last tour here, seven years ago.
Located on a tributary of the Río Paraná, Santa Fe is one of the oldest cities in Argentina but was rebuilt on the exact grid-based urban plan of Santa Fe La Vieja (Old Santa Fe), which was founded in 1573 about 800kms to the northeast but was abandoned by the original Spanish settlers in the mid-17th century when they grew weary of repeated Indian raids, floods and isolation.
Pucciariello pulls strings
The Irish squad broke up their 500km, six-hour journey by coach on Wednesday by stopping off for a two-hour lunch at the behest and arrangement of Federico Pucciariello at his home-town club, the Jockey Club in Rosario. A reportedly magnificent, immaculately manicured sports club of 240 hectares, it caters for polo, tennis, showjumping and golf as well as rugby.
Each "club" within the club has its own restaurant, and the Irish left it to their hosts to lay on lunch, which was typically Argentinian fare; sausages, ribs, steaks, chicken "and a few spuds". Notably taken with the hospitality shown them en route and on arrival here, the Irish squad will drop in there en route back to Buenos Aires for lunch on Sunday and present a plaque to the rugby club.
Alas, this will prevent them making it back in time for the Boca Juniors' match on Sunday afternoon, albeit not against local rivals River Plate, which is reputedly one of the top-10 must-see sports events the world has to offer.
Relief from the rain
Ireland assistant coach Niall O'Donovan and team manager Ger Carmody did a reconnaissance mission here five weeks ago, when they had to fly up from Buenos Aires as the motorways and roads were all blocked by floods. The 80,000 people living in shacks in the burrios outside Santa Fe had to be moved out when six months' rain fell in two days. Mercifully, the sun continues to shine and despite this being the first month of the Argentinian winter, the forecast remains good for the weekend.
Football is number one
Santa Fe, like everywhere in Argentina, is first and foremost a football-obsessed town. Flags and bunting, along with posters, adorn the main pedestrian thoroughfare along Avenue San Martin, where the locals took a passing interest in the Champions League final in one sports café which is like a shrine to Diego Maradona.
One can readily obtain a Boca shirt in the nearby sports shop but not, alas, a replica Pumas jersey, although you can purchase a replica shirt of one of those American-owned English Premiership clubs. Truly, it's a mad world.
