It is perhaps understandable that Mario Ledesma, the Argentinian who persuaded Australia’s forwards to finally fall in love with the semi-mystical arts of scrummaging, has remained in the shadows this week. During the pool stages Ledesma, who represented Argentina with passion and distinction on 84 occasions during his playing career, admitted that he was “praying every day” that the Wallabies and Los Pumas’ paths would not cross. Yet on Sunday they will tear into each other for a place in the World Cup final.
It has led to speculation that Ledesma is wrestling with split loyalties, with the head pulling one way and the heart tumbling the other. The Wallabies’ hooker James Hanson scoffs at the suggestion. “He’s 100% in as regards to the ride,” he tells the Guardian. “He wants to win at least as much as anyone else in this team – and he’s made that pretty clear to us.”
Rather than bare his soul to the world’s media, Ledesma, who has served as Australia’s forwards coach since the start of the year, has been squirrelled away on the training pitch, devising a strategy to jolt Argentina’s forward momentum.
And Hanson, who has been working closely with Ledesma to emulate the Pumas’ scrum during vigorous training sessions, believes his inside knowledge could be crucial. “When the reserves run as Argentina we have Mario on our team to run our plays,” he said, smiling. “He has given us a really good insight into our opponents’ psyche.”
There is clearly much affection for Ledesma in the Wallaby camp. Faces light up when his name is mentioned and players’ words are always warm. As Hanson puts it: “Mario’s been great. He’s got a lot of charisma and he’s always willing to help. There has been complete buy into what he does but we are also able to take the mickey out of his accent and he rolls with it, and loves it. We feel like a family now. That we’re all brothers.”
There is more reticence when it comes to the exact ingredients in Ledesma’s secret sauce. To a man, however, Australia’s players agree that technique alone has not turned a scrum that appeared a liability against England at Twickenham 11 months ago into a weapon. Harder work and a tougher mentality have been vital, too.
When Ledesma joined Australian rugby as forwards’ coach earlier this year, he told his players he wanted them to focus on staying straight in the scrum and pushing hard, with power directed through the hooker. There was plenty of tough love, too – including two scrummaging sessions a day and scrums that became lengthy tug-of-wars, backwards and forwards for 30 seconds or more. It wasn’t pleasant but it worked.
As the prop Scott Sio explains: “Mario drawing out those sessions has allowed us mentally to understand that attitude is half the battle out there. As strong as you can be and however great your technique is, if you’re not prepared to get on top of your opposition you’ve already lost half the battle. We’ve had some very heated sessions and that’s what you need going into these big games.”
Just talking more, as Sio admits, has helped, too. “When you’re out there training, you know what you need from your flanker or second-row and he knows what to expect from his props, so we can call each out on it if we don’t think we’re working hard enough,” he says. “If you’re not able to be honest with each other, you’re not going to be able to grow as a squad.”
It is not uncommon for Ledesma to roll into the scrum on his back, like a mechanic inspecting a car’s engine, to check everything is functioning properly. He is far happier now – and so, understandably, is the Australian coach, Michael Cheika.
“Mario always does his job to the maximum, he gives 120% each time that he is with the team for the scrum and the maul,” he said, approvingly. “Mario has the knowledge, technique and a philosophy and the dedication to go to the end. He is someone who is very effective at his job. He does the work and spends the time reflecting on what he is going to do, so he doesn’t just arrive at training and make up his mind there and say ‘let’s do this’.
“He also takes the players to one side and deals with them individually. He has also been a success on the human front as he has touched the players in a very positive way with his emotions.”
Those emotions are likely to be highly fierce and primal on Sunday but the Australian lock Sam Carter believes his side will be able to able to handle what is thrown at them. “The match is definitely going to be won up front,” he says. “We know Argentina have a very good set piece and they are willing to throw their bodies into everything.
“But we have put a lot of work into our scrum and we’ve responded really well to the passion Mario brings. And when you have a collective working together it becomes a lot more effective.”
