Alex Wyllie’s story with Los Pumas: the first foreign coach in history

Alex Wylliethe New Zealander who left His seal in the World Cup 1999 with Los Pumas, He died this Sunday at 80: A person who marked a generation after that World Cup.

They ran the 90s And after staying again Outside the First Round of the World Cup in South Africa in 1995from the Argentine leadership they were willing to give a helm to the fate of the national team. José Luis Imboff took the post as coach and in 1996 Alex Wyllie arrived to attend in the game To the Rosario.

Exall Black’s scrolls were impeccable, with Eleven games as a player and three years as coach of the New Zealand team between 1988 and 1991. His arrival in the country was a novelty.

Less than three months from the Wales World Cup, José Luis Imhoff resigned from his position and, after 54 days of internship, did the same Héctor Méndez and José Fernández. Finally, 15 days after the start of the World Cup, Alex Wyllie took the reins of the team and became the first foreign coach of Los Pumas, since they sheltered the nickname in 1965.

“For me it was a great, always a sparing, rustic guy who generated us all a great commitment. It was a rugby from another era clearly for how we trained and lived rugby. He had much of the imprint he had lived throughout his career. It was a great coach who marked us a lot At that crucial moment as was the World Cup. With his hard, direct and sparing style, he really loved the sport and transmitted us all that”, He said Santiago Phelan A time ago on the Neozyleand.

For Manuel ContepomiWyllie was the one who gave life to a generation that would later make history: “It was very important as a generation: the 76, 77 and 78 litter We had it in the tournaments of the South Hemisphere M21. We had a link in that tournament and then It took us to the major selected. We were very young and there were those who had more filming in the Pumas but for us it was a bit the continuity of the M21 at that time. A guy who loved him very much, It was loved, it was difficult because it was sparing and sullen, but it was a person who learned to understand Argentine culturevery different from the Neozygy. He gave us a lot in the discipline and aspects that at that time were not so entrenched in the Argentine rugby. ”

Wyllie’s story at the head of the Pumas in the 1999 World Cup is known And memories and photos come to mind: Gonzalo Quesada kicking the sticks, the key victory against Samoa To get to the game with Irelandthe try of Diego Albanesethe 8 minutes defending the Ingoal in a stoically and memorable way, the hug of Felipe Contepomi To the referee when the game ends because The Pumas first passed the group stage.

With the same silence that arrived, Alex Wyllie A plane was taken once the participation of the Pumas in Wales and took refuge in New Zealand. It was the End of the story of the first foreign coach in Los Pumas that was most known until 2009, when it appeared for the withdrawal of Agustín Pichot and generated the emotion of that generation.