Pain in Los Pumas: Alex Wyllie died, the coach who reached the quarterfinals of the 1999 World Cup

Pain in the world of Argentine rugby. The former technical director of Los Pumas, Alex Wyllie, He died this Sunday. It was the first foreign coach that had the combined albiceleste, remembered for having achieved the quarterfinals in the World Cup in 1999.

“With deep sadness we say goodbye to Alex Wyllie, New Zealand coach who guided Los Pumas To its first quarterfinals in a World Cup, back in 1999 in Wales. He left an indelible mark on the history of Argentine rugby and we will remember forever, ”said the Argentine Rugby Union.

During his stage as a player, he played 11 games with the shirt of the All Blacks Between 1970 and 1973. Then, already as a coach, he directed Canterbury between 1982 and 1986. While in 1988 he took care of being the head coach of the All Blacks, position he had until 1991.

In 1999, fifteen days from the World Cup, the former Neozyle player and technician assumed as team head of the Argentine team after the resignation of José Luis Imboff and the internship of Héctor Méndez and José Fernández.

The debut began with the left foot when losing with the host Welsh. However, thanks to a superb performance by Gonzalo Quesada with his foot, the team accumulated three consecutive victories against Samoa, Japan and Ireland that catapulted him to the definitive instances. Then, they lost in front of France in the quarterfinals.

After that performance that remained in the history of the Pumas, Wyllie returned to New Zealand and reappeared only in 2009, for the retreat of Agustín Pichot.

Alex Wyllie, former DT of Los Pumas died

In statements collected by the ESPN portal, Quesada referred to the passage of Wyllie For the Pumas. “Alex (Wyllie) was very important as an advisor at the times that accompanied three great coaches such as, Imhoff, Tito Fernández and Pipo Méndez. They were times where he contributed a good balance and different vision. Each coach had his philosophy, and his contribution was always new or different, “he said.

“What happened to three weeks to go to the 99 World Cup was terrible. Knowing, one night in a costume in Geba before a training, which the coaches renounced was very hard. The reaction of the group was exemplary. It generated a lot of union and commitment. In that context, that he passes as an advisor to coach leader of the squad was key,” he completed.

Then he pointed out that the New Zealand “He contributed more professional discipline and management,” in addition to a mixture of “rigor and demand with much empathy and affection.” “We guided us at a time where we needed it. We had a large group with great players, we had a lot of passion for this game and we had a lot of work capacity,” he closed.

“It was very important as a generation: the litter 76, 77 and 78 we had it in the tournaments of the southern hemisphere M21. We had a link in that tournament and then several took us to the selected major. 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, made himself love, was difficult because he was sparing and sullen, but he was a person who learned to understand the Argentine culture, very different from the neozelandesa. He gave us a lot in the discipline and aspects that at that time were not so entrenched in the Argentine rugby, ”said Manuel Contepomi.