The UAR has encouraged Jaguares players to accept playing opportunities overseas as uncertainty surrounds the team’s future in Vodacom Super Rugby.
The 2020 Super Rugby season was decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic and clouds are still hanging over the 2021 season as travel restrictions are likely to remain in place in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This has left the Jaguares out in the cold as those three nations have all sought to launch their own domestic leagues to replace Super Rugby, which was abandoned mid-March.
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While no official announcement has been made by either the UAR or Sanzaar, reports from Argentina suggest that the Jaguares could be forced to follow the Sunwolves in exiting the competition entirely. At the very least, the team could have to wait until 2022 to resume their regular participation in Super Rugby.
Jaguares captain and Argentina midfielder Jeronimo de la Fuente told ESPN that players had been advised to take overseas offers if they come.
‘They told us that if we had any possibility of emigrating that we take it, and that the UAR was going to be predisposed to help us to be able to travel,’ De la Fuente said.
‘Next year is still a long way off and the possibilities are many. And the sadness that it can no longer be the same … it hurts me a lot to think that Jaguares does not exist any more, that Super Rugby cannot play. So, I am positive from that side, that the solution will be found.’
Reports have already linked Jaguares star fullback Emiliano Boffelli to French club Racing 92 and other players could follow him in moving north.
Photo: Dianne Manson/Getty Images
