Sale Sharks are to help prepare Argentina for their opening Autumn international with England at Twickenham on November 6 with the Pumas training for three days at the Premiership club’s Carrington base next week.
The Pumas are training in the North West as Argentina head coach Michael Cheika is also in charge of Lebanon at the Rugby League World Cup. Lebanon take on Ireland in Leigh on Sunday with their final group match against Jamaica at the same venue on October 30.
However, if Lebanon qualify from a group that also contains New Zealand – who beat them 34-12 – in second place, they play their quarter final on Friday, November 4 which would give Cheika a training headache before the England test.
As a build up to their three day camp, the Pumas will work with Sale tomorrow as the Premiership club steps up training before Sunday’s home game with Harlequins.
Speaking before the session was confirmed, Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, listed the different teams that his players are working with this season. He explained: “We hope to link up with the Pumas for some live unit training and have the Kangaroos ( Australian rugby league team) around and will do some backs session with them. We also have a good training relationship with Caldy and Doncaster Knights to keep intensity high.
“I don’t think Michael Cheika knew he was down here when he came to our Friday night game with London Irish. I don’t think he knew his manager had booked the team in with us! We had Professional Football Association coaches in last week and the high performance director of Melbourne Storm (rugby league) came in for a whole week. We have a very open environment where we are looking to share and learn across codes and within out own.
“That is how you get better and the more knowledge the better. “
Sale have made an unbeaten start to the season and Sanderson will be relying on the depth of his squad in the coming weeks after Manu Tulagi, Jonny Hill, Tom Curry, Raffi Quirke and Bevan Rodd were all selected for England’s Autumn internationals that also see Eddie Jones’s team take on Japan, New Zealand and South Africa at Twickenham.