David Ferguson's Argentina tour blog

Published on Monday 9 June 2008 18:51

DAVID Ferguson, The Scotsman's chief rugby writer, is covering the national side's tour of Argentina...

Buenos Aires, Tuesday

SIX days into the tour and back in the Buenos Aires hotel I am beginning to feel I know and care about where I am.

It's like that on tours, especially those that move around a bit. One day and night in Buenos Aires was followed by a lengthy car hire episode and then road trip to Rosario; the same checking-in process once the hotel was found there; some sleep; finding the Scotland team hotel the next morning for the press conference; finding the stadium then getting press passes for access on match day and then, suddenly, the first Test was upon us.

Intriguingly, Saturday was deemed the 'National Day of the Journalist' in Argentina so we were toasted with champagne by the Rosario mayor at a small reception inside the stadium an hour before kick-off. It seems they view their journalists a little differently in this part of the world - or perhaps their unions are just more vocal.

The journalists on tour - myself, Rob Robertson, Alasdair Reid, Lewis Stuart and Iain Morrison - are pretty well used to touring and so we know how to cope with a few weeks of perpetual motion. This is nothing compared with the eight-week Lions tours.

The BBC, in the shape of Bill Johnstone and Alasdair Lamont, and Morrison, opted for the bus to Rosario last week, and were held up by angry farmers protests (not sure yet what the protests were aimed at) which halted all traffic for an hour.

Myself, Rob and 'big Lewis the cow-eater' - he thinks he has died and gone to heaven with the incredible size of steaks they serve here, for around 5 a go - hired two cars to enable the rest of us to see some of the vast pampas. We avoided the farmers, but witnessed three bad accidents, caused probably by the speed they drive at and the fact that, judging by the wrecked shape of many cars, MOTs do not exist here.

Sadly, by the time the car hire company had found a car for myself and Robertson, 2pm became 3pm then 4pm and the skies were growing dark when we set out on the ten-lane highways to the access norte to Rosario. The trip back was better, but, ironically, there was little to see across the brown, arid landscape, other than the odd horse-rider, huge numbers of old Massey Fergusons and John Deeres - which delighted farmer's boy Morrison - and vast areas of rugby pitches with no obvious sign of changing facilities or life.

Sometimes you simply do not have time to appreciate your surroundings, far less get to know them, but the secret to staying sane on tour is to make time to do so. Otherwise you could return home with little more knowledge of the great countries we are given the chance to visit than we left the UK with.

We are being hosted for dinner tomorrow evening by the family of an Argentinian rugby journalist, Frankie Deges, who we have met many times in recent years, and that will be a highlight, while we are also searching for a tango show to get some taste of the Latin American culture; that is, once I persuade the clueless Alamo car hire company to replace the 2,000 they took from my new credit card, instead of 200, "by mistake".

The Scotland rugby squad went to watch Boca Juniors play last night away from their Buenos Aires home, but the big headlines were in the capital city where Boca's bitter rivals River Plate, now managed by former Argentina star Diego Simeone, won 2-1 to lift the Argentine Championship.

Boca won some silverware a week ago, but lost in the semi-final of the big South America cup and last night the streets of Buenos Aires were teeming with red-and-white flags - the downpour of rain today has only added to Boca fans' misery.

There is no relationship between travelling journalists and the squad these days, outside the official press conferences, unlike the old amateur tours, but we're also hopeful of a visit to the Boca stadium next Sunday to compare the seemingly mad atmosphere of an Argentinian football match with Firhill on a Friday night.

As for the rugby, the squad have today been escaping the typically Scottish weather - wet, 12C - with gym sessions, while, ironically, Scots back home burn with the belated arrival of summer temperatures in the UK. The Scotland coaches may still be burning, however, with the way their charges failed to grasp victory in the first Test - they return to full training tomorrow.

Duncan Hodge, the kicking coach, has been put up for the press conference today, running about half an hour late as I write this, and we caught an interview with Allister Hogg. So back to work.