Rodrigo Etchart is one of a handful of rugby sevens Olympians currently gracing the fields of the Americas Rugby Championship with distinction.

The Argentina XV winger is back to his best form and looking forward to completing the tournament with a flourish and then seeing what the future holds for him.

By contrast, Rio 2016 was a bittersweet experience for the player from the San Isidro Club. In terms of game time, it lasted only 10 minutes. Etchart suffered a season-ending cruciate medial ligament injury when his knee twisted badly after he was stopped in his tracks by a high tackle on the way to scoring a try against the USA, and that was it, game over.

At the time, full national 15s honours were within his reach, making the injury even more galling. Surgery and lengthy rehabilitation put those dreams on hold and he is still to be capped by Los Pumas, not that he looks back on the Games with bad memories – far from it.

Unique feeling

“Living in Rio was a unique feeling; being part of a squad that is bigger than your own sport, sharing so much with other people and being in the Olympic Village was incredible,” he said.

“It is much more than living with team-mates from the same country, you’re sharing the village with so many different sports and nationalities. There is a certain tension there as athletes have devoted their whole lives to getting there, but it is a nice feeling.”

In recalling what he went through, Etchart talks about the Youth Olympic Games that will be played in his city of Buenos Aires later this year and the need for those competing in it to embrace the occasion. Hosts Argentina will be one of the six male teams that will be competing for a medal.

“Players must enjoy the road to get there and then the experience of playing in the Games. And, once that is done, start focusing to get into the Olympic squad for Tokyo 2020 as the Games are incredibly unique.”

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series taught Etchart certain skills and gave him a fitness level that he now brings to Argentina XV and the Americas Rugby Championship.

Hot and cold

Acknowledging that the main stated goal for his team is to develop players, he says: “It is a very tough tournament that can open the doors to further international honours; you can see how every country is developing, getting stronger and giving the ARC all the attention it deserves.”

Since Monday Etchart has been in Jujuy, the northernmost province in his country, preparing for this weekend’s game against Canada.

Argentina XV need to win the two remaining games – and hope that the USA slips up against Brazil or Uruguay – if they are to have any hope of winning back the trophy they won at the inaugural tournament two seasons ago.

Etchart knows Canada will not make things easy for the Felipe Contepomi-coached team.

“They are very strong physically, and play a structured, tidy game. It will be a huge forward tussle and whichever team makes fewer mistakes will probably win,” he said.

“We have been hot and cold so far,” he added, in assessing the team’s performance at the ARC (two wins and a loss). “We are finding the start of the games hard, but we are very fit and that is very important. We need some technical and mental adjustments to be able to play for 80 minutes.” 

The Americas Rugby Championship 2018 will be streamed LIVE on the World Rugby website at www.worldrugby.org/arc2018. Some geo-blocking restrictions will apply with more details available here.