Argentina want their 2007 World Cup performance to inspire future generations and the game at large, after the weight of superior opposition and a lack of regular top-tier international competition finally caught up with them in their 37-13 semi-final defeat by South Africa at the Stade de France.
Coach Marcelo Loffreda and captain Agustin Pichot will attempt to lift the team for one more match, the third-place play-off against France which matters to them from the point of view of making a dignified and, if possible, winning exit.
Pichot will find it tough and may prefer not to play, however, retiring from the international game with the demand that the world's rugby authorities take a serious look at the future of the game and that of the smaller nations like Argentina.
"Our performances were never an issue," Pichot said after Argentina had confirmed their progress with five successive victories at the tournament before their fall at the penultimate hurdle.
Pichot said that between the 2003 World Cup in Australia and the tournament in France, the Pumas had played around 20 matches, half the amount of the other leading nations, yet "we came close to beating all the best teams in world and before this World Cup we were ranked fifth".
"Rugby at the moment has to make a very tough decision of taking a more non-profitable path," Pichot told the post-match news conference on Sunday night. "Imagine, they wanted to cut the tournament from 20 teams to 16, that would be the end of rugby.
"This is not just about Argentina... two of the greatest teams in the world have gone home. They have a lot of power, it's time to look at where we want to go," he added of the quarter-final elimination of New Zealand and Australia.
"It's important that other nations are also part (of international competitions). Sanzar, the IRB or whoever must understand that," he said.
Sanzar, which groups the Tri-nations southern hemisphere powers Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and the world body IRB have looked into how to incorporate Argentina into an annual competition but made little progress.
"Rugby is for all, not just for the few," said Pichot, who with Loffreda has long called for Argentina's inclusion in Europe's Six Nations championship.
Loffreda, who moves on after the tournament to a head-coaching job with Leicester Tigers in England, said: "I think what Argentina showed through this group of players is that rugby is not just professionalism, interests distant from sport.
"It's also about love of a jersey, a philosophy, the spirit, heart of a team and that allowed us to reach the final stages (of the tournament)," said Loffreda, a former Pumas centre.
"That speaks well of Argentine rugby and very well of these players."
