2023-10-15 11:23:47
From one number 10 to another. What if Argentina had been guided by an external force for several months? Between the selection of Lionel Messi, world football champion in Qatar in November 2022, and that of Nicolas Sanchez, qualified for the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup this Saturday, common points exist and an entire country begins to dream of a shot at a new international coronation. For the third time in their history, after 2007 and 2015, the Pumas are in the last four of a World Cup. And the opening half Nicolas Sanchez is not for nothing.
At the Stade Vélodrome on Saturday, when he had just come on (68th minute), it was he who intercepted the winning ball to score the last try of the match and offer Argentina a historic qualification. “Frankly, it’s intuition,” he concedes, in French, after the meeting. I see the ball there, I try to take it and run fast. Well, it wasn’t too fast (laughs). But we still score at the end. » Emiliano Boffelli, the official scorer of the match, even gave him the final penalty.
Eight points on the clock later and here is Nicolas Sanchez, a well-known face of French rugby after seasons spent in Bordeaux (2013-2014), Toulon (2014-2015) and, above all, at Stade Français (2018-2022), at 899 points in 102 selections. The opener is the best director in Pumas history, just as Lionel Messi is the Albiceleste’s top scorer. And whether he is world champion or not, Sanchez could well find the Pulga under the Miami sun in a few weeks. After leaving Brive last June, he was announced to the Sharks, the Florida club resident in Major League Rugby in the United States.
In 2020, he beat the All Blacks single-handedly!
“It’s a good moment for me personally,” summarizes the person concerned after this great victory against the Welsh. My whole family is there in a country in which I lived for a long time, a championship that I love. » And he will return to Paris in a few days before a dream semi-final against New Zealand, Friday October 20 (9 p.m.) at the Stade de France. In 2015, Nicolas Sanchez was the starting opener during the semi-final defeat against Australia (29-15), then coached by Michael Cheika… current coach of Argentina.
Now a substitute (a start in this World Cup, against Chile), the 34-year-old player is simply trying to take advantage of these moments in the selection. “At 13, I went to see the Pumas play against Australia, in the River Plate stadium (in 2002) and at that moment, we said to ourselves: As long as we don’t play for the Pumas , we’re hanging on, he told the media at the end of September. I was able to accomplish my dream, which was to play a match in this jersey, and tomorrow I will play a hundredth. I am fulfilled by what I have been able to experience. »
“I have nothing but admiration, because of everything he represents, his humility,” admitted his successor Santiago Carreras at the same time. It’s a pride to share this position with him, to be in his team. The way he is on and off the field makes him even greater. » Against the All Blacks, we will have to be immense in order to reach the first final in the history of Argentine rugby. Nicolas Sanchez knows the song. On November 14, 2020, it was he who gave the Pumas their first success against New Zealand (25-15). With a try, a conversion and six penalties, he had scored all of his team’s points.
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