Argentina start their Autumn Nations Series campaign against Italy on 9 November, then take on Ireland on 16 November, before they wrap up their tour against France on 23 November - with every game live on TNT Sports.
Earlier in the year the Benetton player was second in line for Los Pumas’ number 10 jersey, one that was made famous by Juan Martin Hernández and Nicolás Sánchez, and one that was firmly in the hands of Santiago Carreras at the start of their July internationals and The Rugby Championship.
Carreras and Sánchez were Argentina’s two fly-halves at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and the former held onto the jersey for the July tests against France.
Albornoz started the next match against Uruguay, and while he scored eight conversions and a penalty, when The Rugby Championship got underway Carreras was back in the starting spot with Albornoz appearing off the bench at fullback.
It has been a similar story with Benetton. Since joining in 2021, he has had to compete with Italy international Paolo Garbisi for the starting fly-half berth, and now Jacob Umaga.
By the end of The Rugby Championship, though, the shirt was his after impressing in victories over Australia and South Africa. While Felipe Contepomi’s side couldn’t win a first Rugby Championship title after defeat in their final match to South Africa, the Tucumán native scored their only points in a 48-7 defeat with a try and conversion.
“I get on with both those players, Jacob and Santi,” Albornoz told us. “We have to work together and help each other out and share ideas.
“With Jacob there are times that I’ve played fullback, and he’s played fly-half, and others where I've been fly-half and he's been fullback. But fullback has lots of similarities with fly-half, so I’m happy playing either, though I grew up playing fly-half.”
Head coach and mentor
It has helped that Contepomi was another of the illustrious players to have worn the Argentina number 10 jersey. During the 2007 Rugby World Cup he moved to inside-centre and acted as a mentor to Hernández when he moved forward from fullback. It was a move that paid off spectacularly as Argentina finished third.
Contepomi also helped out a young Johnny Sexton at Leinster, before he moved aside and set the young pivot on a path to greatness.
There were echoes of Contepomi’s influence in Albornoz’s performances against South Africa, most notably a try and the winning penalty which ensured the South Americans could celebrate beating Australia, New Zealand, and Springboks in the same championship for the first time.
“He is great to work with and he wants us to think about attacking all the time, no matter where we are on the field,” Albornoz said. “If we see space, no matter where we are on the pitch, he wants us to try to exploit it and attack as quickly as possible.
“I try to take in as much information as possible from him, and what he does well is always ask us for feedback. Whether we think this is the best place to attack from, or whether we should be doing some else.
“We were pretty pleased with how we did [in The Rugby Championship], though we didn’t win in the end. It was the first time we beat all three opponents and that was something with which we were pleased. Now, it is important that we all give our all in training for these three matches. We have got quite a few new, young faces in the squad and we need to be ready for three huge matches.”
Home delights
Argentina begin their preparations when the squad meets in Paris. After a week in the French capital, they will move onto Italy’s north-east ahead of their match against the Azzurri in Udine.
For Albornoz it will be familiar territory, with the Stadio Friuli under two hours from his home in Treviso.
“It will be good to play in Italy and that is the big one for me because I know pretty much all their squad from playing here,” he said. “We’re together nearly every day at training and we’re all friends, so it will be special and really enjoyable to play in.
“It will be hugely important to start with a win, not just because it is Italy, but to underline what we achieved in The Rugby Championship and to be able to play at that level again. We’re proud of how we played, and we want to reach that level as soon as we can.”
Once matters are resolved in Udine, Albornoz and his teammates will travel to Dublin for their match against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, before they conclude the Autumn Nations Series back in Paris against France.
Historically, Argentina has enjoyed some memorable clashes against Ireland and France, but recently Ireland have struck up a rivalry with New Zealand. Both they and France have also developed a similar rapport with South Africa, especially as Ireland hold the one title that the Springboks don’t: the number one ranking in the world.
“Playing the number one team in the world is always special and it is a big challenge to show what we can do,” Albornoz said. “We’ve got to bear in mind that we’ve never won in Dublin, so that is a target for us. I know all about the rivalry we had in the past with our wins in the 2007 and 2015 World Cups and everyone told me what it was like.
“I’ve never played in France before, so I hope I’m in the team for that one. They beat us the last time we played them, and we lost the last time we played in the Stade de France, so we have to be in our best condition when we play them. My teammates have told me all about playing there and how the crowd can make it hard for you at times.”
