'You need to be careful': Felipe Contepomi hits back at reporter

Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi found himself dismissing allegations of inappropriate communication with Test officials during his side’s recent Rugby Championship contest in South Africa.

An historically succesful Los Pumas Rugby Championship campaign ended on a sour note in Mbombela over the weekend with a 48-7 dismantling at the hands of tournament champions the Springboks.

Carrying the hurt of a hefty loss into his postgame press conference, Contepomi offered an honest and raw review of his team’s performance before taking issue with a question that alleged unsportsmanlike behaviour from the coach during the halftime break.

A reporter could be heard addressing the coach, saying: “We received a report that you approached the refs’ changing room at half time and you were quite upset” before a confused Contepomi interjected with “Sorry?”

The reporter repeated themselves, stating: “We heard that you approached the refs changing room at half time.”

The coach responded emphatically.

“Well, you heard wrong because I don’t know where is the changing room. I didn’t go to the halftime changing room, so I don’t know where you take it (the information) from but it’s a bad thing to say because I never go to the changing room of a ref at halftime.

“I’m disappointed that you asked that question and I would like to know where you take it from?”

Hesitantly, the reporter told Contepomi he got a message from someone at the stadium.

“I only talked to the referee after the game,” the coach replied. “I know Ben O’Keeffe very well and we chat. I sent him the review and he said yes and we are ok in terms of interchanging… I’m surprised you got the bad information. You need to be careful, because you’re a reporter, you need to check your information. Because that’s a lie.

“Sorry, for me that’s the last question. We’re finished.”

With that, the coach left the room. The question was asked seven minutes into the press conference.

The interaction was undoubtedly a sour note to end the tournament on as Los Pumas, for the first time in tournament history, claimed wins over all three Rugby Championship rivals in a single campaign. A remarkable record for the former Pumas star in just his first season as head coach of the team.

Contepomi reflected on the loss prior to the abrupt exit, saying his team’s consistency is clearly a big work-on after another famous win was followed by a big loss.

“Obviously it’s heart-breaking because of the way we lost, not because of the result.

“We’ve never been the team we wanted to be, so it’s hard. And, when you play against the two-time World Cup champions, it’s very hard. They were better from minute one to 80 and that’s the story.

“Obviously I want to recognise our players kept battling and kept coming back and kept, every time there was a break, working hard to go back. But, at a certain time, we were 13 against 15 and it was very hard.

“So, congratulations to South Africa.”