of the game. So before we look
forward, let’s look back on a career full
of notable achievements because it’s
those experiences that have shaped
the coaching style he has today.
A No8 who was told he needed to
shift to hooker to have any future in
international rugby, Ledesma took his
chance aged 24 as he always does:
with two hands. His Argentina career
spanned 15 years from his debut in 1996
to his retirement after the quarter-final
defeat by the All Blacks at RWC 2011.
His fourth tournament as a player was
a fair reward for a warrior who played
his 84 caps in a time when Argentina
had no regular competition. He was
arguably the best hooker in the 1999
and 2007 tournaments, the latter when
Argentina famously finished third.
He moved to France after his first
World Cup in 1999 and won the elusive
Bouclier de Brennus with Clermont
Auvergne in 2010, but when he called
time on his playing days he was ready
to move home to Buenos Aires. Michael
Cheika had other ideas, however, and
asked Ledesma to join his coaching
team at Stade Français after RWC 2011.
“I didn’t know him and I was quite
surprised by the call, but I took on the
challenge and after hanging my boots
it was straight, and I mean straight, with
no breaks, to being assistant coach,”
recalls Ledesma as he sits in a café in
the leafy northern suburbs of Buenos
Aires where he now lives.
The experience in Paris wasn’t the
happiest. He had only just finished
playing in a World Cup and felt he was
as fit as the players he was coaching, at
times wondering why he wasn’t playing.
Then when things didn’t go to plan, club
officials wanted Cheika’s head, on a
platter delivered by Ledesma. He would
not agree to backstab his boss and thenexposed the plan to Cheika to uphold
his own integrity. That act would open
huge doors for him down the line.
From Stade, Ledesma moved to
Montpellier where he worked with
future France coach Fabien Galthié. But
just when he’d had enough of French
rugby, Cheika came calling again, this
time from Sydney, and the family of six
moved to the Southern Districts. First,
he acted as a set-piece consultant to
Cheika’s Waratahs and soon after he
joined his friend in the Wallabies set-up
as scrum coach ahead of RWC 2015.
He was comfortable in one of the
world’s greatest cities and with one
of the best Test sides, but a couple of
years in he felt he was ready to become
a head coach. As it was, he got the call
from the Argentina rugby union to take
charge of their Super Rugby franchise.
After two seasons of learning their trade
in a tournament with teams that had
a 20-season head start, the Jaguares
needed a change of leadership.
Moving back to a country that has an
uncanny ability to throw away its huge
potential, that has been living for thepast decade with yearly inflation rates
ranging from the high 20s to low 40s,
the challenge wasn’t only oval.
“In a way, Jaguares represented
Argentine society,” he says. “From day
one we worked hard to install a new
working ethic, with clear processes
and objectives. A new ideal.”
Argentines, says Ledesma, have a
“left-hand approach; they are creative,
resilient, hungry for success, but aremissing their right-hand approach,
which is mostly structures, planning,
long-term thinking. The goal was to
add to their thinking on the latter.”
Professional rugby was new to most
players when the franchise started in
2016 and things needed to change to
evolve when he took over last year.
“We worked very hard on our identity
and rather than serving everything on a
platter for the players, we changed the
access they had to information, getting
them to search for what they needed to
know about their own game and their
opponents, putting the responsibility
on them to work hard to get better.
We gave them the resources.
“Relationship ties were strengthened,
working and growing together. Now
there is very good communication within
the team, which means better spirit.”
Jaguares broke into the quarter-finals
in their third season and his early
success at the franchise meant that
when Daniel Hourcade’s position as
head coach of los Pumas became
untenable, Ledesma was ready to
make the leap to Test rugby.
“It was a tough first year, full of
challenges,” he says of a time when he
was away for close to six months out ofArgentinaPICS
Getty Images & Inpho
Pulling together
Argentina have a
strong team spirit“They all taught me a lot. I was
lucky to learn from great coaches
and people. I was a sponge”