SANTIAGO CORDERO’S FIRST season with Connacht was a disaster, pretty much ended before it even began because of a serious knee injury.

The Argentina international missed nearly the entire 2023/24 campaign, making it back for his first two appearances in the green jersey in May.

Those two games were enough to convince Pumas boss Felipe Contepomi to call the 30-year-old for the beginning of his reign in July when Cordero started at fullback in games against France and Uruguay, as well as a start on the wing against Australia in the Rugby Championship.

All of that Pumas involvement meant Cordero missed a chunk of Connacht’s pre-season but when he returned to his province, he was soon pressed into a busy run of games as he started all six of the westerners’ matches in the opening block of the URC.

And now he’s back into Argentina mode for the November Tests, coming off the bench against Italy last weekend and scoring a try. He’ll hope to make a similar impact against Ireland tomorrow.

After nearly a year on the sidelines with his knee injury, Cordero is certainly back in the thick of it. Given that they play in all corners of the global game, there aren’t many breaks for Pumas players. 

“Not much, but you’re always happy to be here,” said Cordero yesterday after Argentina trained at Wanderers FC in Dublin.

“Everyone wants to be here. It’s always good to be here, no cooking, everything is served, sleeping well, so I can’t complain. I’m very, very happy.”

Cordero has started all of Connacht's games this season so far. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

The run of games for Connacht means 54-times capped Cordero has come into this international window confident about his match fitness, but he’s seemingly aware that his performances have yet to hit the level Connacht fans have been hoping to see.

“It was tough, the knee still needed some time and I think I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to play well in those few games,” said Cordero.

“But the club, the staff and players were very good with me, helping me a lot. I think now I’m in a better moment or position than a couple of months before when I was playing with Connacht.

“I’m happy to be here but also can’t wait for after these couple of games to go back and play for them.”

Now into their second year in Galway, Cordero and his young family are well settled off the pitch.

“It’s beautiful, beautiful,” he said. “They have lots of love for Galway. We can’t complain, we’re very happy.”

Cordero was delighted to grab his 17th try for Argentina last weekend in the 50-18 win over the Italians and while he points out that the Pumas made plenty of errors in that game, they were content to win comfortably in the end.

They’re readying themselves for things to go up a few levels tomorrow in Dublin.

“Everyone knows Ireland are one of the best teams, very, very good,” said Cordero.

“They play with a lot of intensity, it’s a very intense team so we know what’s coming and we need to focus on us, our structure and game plan, and hopefully everything will go our way.”