A week after coming under criticism back home in Argentina for not paying enough respect for Diego Maradona, Los Pumas have added the number “10” to their sleeves for their final Test of the year against the Wallabies.
The No.10 was the number Maradona – one of football’s greatest players – wore during his illustrious career, which included leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
There were suspicions that the xenophobic tweets that resurfaced earlier in the week, which led to the Argentina Rugby Union standing captain Pablo Matera and teammates Guido Petti and Santiago Socino, were a result of the Pumas supposedly not doing enough to honour the late Maradona during their defeat to the All Blacks last weekend in Newcastle.
That was despite the Pumas and the entire squad sitting on the sidelines wearing black armbands.
The All Blacks won praise worldwide when captain Sam Cane laid out a New Zealand jersey with the number 10 on it before performing the haka.
But there was no missing the 10 on their left sleeve on Saturday night
