“Selknam is a player factory”: Pablo Lemoine analyzes the Chilean franchise and its importance for the World Cup in France

The Condors coach is a straightforward guy. Deep thoughts, but clear ideas. He always maintains honesty as his main card in life. Either to direct his players or to talk about the processes he leads.

This is why the interview he has with La Tercera offers several key phrases to understand the current moment of Chilean rugby and Selknam’s results in the first edition of Super Rugby Americas. The conversation that took place after the Uruguayan became part of the sporting conversation”Pathways to Success: Chile’s World Hockey and Rugby Teams » at Andrés Bello University.

“They can be called Selknam, they can be called Cóndores or whatever they want, but ultimately they are the same players who work for a project which is the World Cup or the Panamerican, these are our major annual projects. But it has to go hand in hand with the construction, the physical work, a time that we didn’t have at another time, because it was dedicated to qualifying for the World Cup or qualifying for the World Sevens Round. begins the national head coach when asked about the current performance of the Chilean franchise in Super Rugby Americas, where it has three defeats and two wins.

And he goes even further and adds: “We want to arrive in June (three months before the World Cup begins the work of Cóndores as such) with tools, with a container that can be filled with things. The container is the player who has prepared himself physically, individually, who has worked on his mental strength so that when we start throwing strategy and tricks at him to play matches, he can retain them. If we have a punctured container, the content falls, because it does not have the capacity to resist it.. This is what keeps Selknam from seeing a new team, which can generate the physical wear and tear of previous years. it’s a process “explains Lemoine.

Even if despite this, he admits that the objective is to beat Yacare XV this Saturday in Paraguay. “Rugby is a simple sport in many ways and they were champions in that simplicity. We must recover the simple things, not continue to seek complicated solutions he says of the Chilean players.

But one of the most touched points in the conversation is the new generation of players coming to Selknam. Lemoine admits they are an important part of the process and it is exciting to see more and more top players in the lower categories, waiting for their opportunity.

“There are signs that Chile can produce players, doors are opening and players are no longer going to play against a bad team in Europe just to leave. The retention that we obtain produces the fact of being able to complete a university degree, of being able to do a high performance program, of being a professional athlete, there is a process that is realized and created. It’s something super important because it allows us to show that Selknam is a player factory, because that’s what we are. “says the coach.

Reflection to which he responds immediately. “That’s what we are because they come with a deficit in the minor categories, with a lack of competition and you have to do every introduction. Here it’s not that a player comes and plays. They are far to be players and to play. Today we have a number of young players who are preparing, Ignacio González, Marco López, Simón Donoso, Norman Aguayo. These are the guys who are visualized playing the 2027 draw and they are 19 and 20 years old . It seems to me that these are clear messages that the boys raise their hands, “says the coach who led Chile to their first adult rugby world XV.

Finally, Lemoine returns to what has changed within the discipline since his arrival. “Chilean rugby delivers better, the clubs train better, they are more responsible, they understand that pre-seasons and post-seasons are very important. And these things were incorporated, they weren’t there . Before it was cut in September, October and until March the following year or mid-April there was no rugby. Clubs disconnected and now it doesn’t happen. The championships are longer, there is more interaction between the championships, the tours,” he concludes.