Argentina 7s rugby Santiago Gomez- Cora is adamant of a positive performance at the Wellington 7s this weekend.

Speaking to SUNsports at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor in Wellington yesterday, Gomez-Cora said the goal was to win and not threatened with the return of players like Semi Kunatani.

“It is always a pleasure to play Fiji especially in the pool games,”he said. “Fiji is the best team in series and I know there is a huge challenge for us when we face the Fijians.

“Fiji has recalled in Kunatani who is very strong and fast but they don’t scare us. It will not stop us from achieving our target. “Fijians might have big names in their team who have been doing well in the series but we still can beat Fiji.” Fiji defeated Argentina 28-0 in Dubai and 43-0 in pool play in Cape Town.

“We lost both our pool matches to Fiji in the fi rst round of series but that has boosted our confi dence level for this second round.

“Playing Fiji, Japan and Wales in the pool matches will not be easy but our main goal is to beat Japan, Wales and Fiji and qualify for the Cup quarterfi nals.”

Cora said to beat Fiji they will have to strengthen their defence line. “We need to up our defence to beat Fiji,” he added. Vodafone Fijian 7s coach Ben Ryan earlier stated Argentina would learn from their mistakes in the fi rst round of series.

“They are all very strong and I get a little worried when there is team like Argentina that we have beaten twice and they going to learn a lot from it.

“I thought they did well to get into the fi – nal in Cape Town and they are full of con- fi dence now and they have good players,” Ryan said.

Timeout For Children

Meanwhile, the Pumas took a break from the training schedule yesterday to visit kids at the Wellington Children’s Hospital.

The team arrived with books and rugby balls for the children, and spent some time chatting to the them and their families. Gomez-Cora said the trip to the hospital had become an annual tradition since he fi rst visited the capital as a player eight years ago.

As a coach he wanted to make sure the custom was carried on.

“We can do something for someone, it’s not all about rugby, and it’s something very special for us to do in our week in New Zealand.”

Wellington Hospitals & Health Foundation chair Bill Day said it was not just the kids that got a buzz out of the visit, but nurses and staff as well.

He said the relationship between the Children’s Hospital and Argentina went beyond rugby players popping in. Over the past few years the Argentina embassy had raised thousands of dollars to donate to the hospital, to be spent on medical equipment and supplies.

Seven-year-old Cayden Kinsella was visiting his sister Emma when the players turned up. He spent time passing the ball around with a few Pumas, and got their signatures on a rugby ball they’d brought in.

Cayden said it was good to meet the players, and while he remained a staunch New Zealand supporter, he might support Argentina if they weren’t playing the Kiwis.

Edited by Osea Bola

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