Santi Cordero wants to kick-start disrupted Connacht career after helping Argentina to win in Dublin
The Connacht winger is only getting up to full speed after the knee injury that cost him almost all of his first season with the westerners but his time with Argentina is helping the healing process
Argentina's players travel from all over the world to represent the Pumas but Santi Cordero finds himself not far his Galway home this week.
Cordero joined Connacht 14 months ago and was immediately thrown into injury despair - he suffered a serious knee problem in training just a week into pre-season.
That cost him the entirety of his first season with the westerners, bar the last two games, and it has taken him time to get up to speed this term.
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But returning to the Test environment with Argentina has felt like a return to normality - he played against France and Uruguay in July, then against Australia on September 1, before an 18 minute cameo against Italy last weekend.
Cordero hopes that Connacht will see the best of him when he returns to the Dexcom Stadium after the Autumn series "It was tough," the 30-year-old confessed. "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.
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"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. It’s beautiful, beautiful (here). "My family have lots of love for Galway. We can’t complain, we’re very happy."
He insists that, despite observing and then being involved in Irish rugby since his move from Bordeaux, that he hasn't been presenting the inside line on the Irish game to his Pumas team-mates.
"In fairness we have Felipe, he knows more than me," he smiled, referring to Argentina's head coach Contepomi, the former Leinster star who became their attack coach before returning home.
"So no, honestly no, I haven’t said anything yet. Everyone knows Ireland are one of the best teams, very, very good. 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."
Contepomi's influence since succeeding Michael Cheika has been clear to see with Argentina beating South Africa, Australia and the All Blacks during the Rugby Championship this year.
"Yeah, you can see on the results and the data," he said. "We’re playing better, we’re more confident and he is helping on every single point of it, whether mentally or physically.
"Everyone is very happy with him, you can see how we play and develop as a team. Everyone can see the change. We are very confident and very happy."
Winning in Italy was a boost as the squad came together after a month apart. Argentina put 50 points on the Azzuri and Cordero was among the try scorers.
"It's been a long time without scoring a try so I'm very happy with those few minutes getting some touches and happy with the try," he said.
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