Newcastle Falcons’ Juan Pablo Socino is not bitter about the fact Argentina’s new approach to international rugby means he cannot play for his country for the next three seasons.
The 27-year-old made his debut for the Pumas in their non-cap game against the French Barbarians in July, having shone in his first season for the Falcons.
The former Rotherham centre went on to appear in their Rugby Championship test matches with Australia and South Africa prior to the Rugby World Cup, winning a further two caps against Namibia and South Africa during the tournament as the Pumas surged to the semi-finals.
Socino did all of this in the full knowledge that he would be ineligible for his country from 2016 onwards due to the Argentinean federation’s decision to only pick domestic-based players.
Argentina’s new franchise, Los Jaguares, will feature in the southern hemisphere’s Super Rugby from this year onwards, but Socino is committed to Newcastle until June 2018 having agreed a long-term deal.
The former RFU Championship player of the season said: “It wasn’t in my head at all during the World Cup.
“I knew before the tournament that the rule was in place, and I signed my contract knowing that.
“I wasn’t expecting anything in terms of a call-up but all of a sudden I was there, so I just went into the whole thing knowing what the situation was and determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
“I am really pleased with what I did, and now looking forward to the rest of the season with Newcastle.”
Despite having played only a peripheral role for his country during the World Cup Socino gained invaluable experience purely from being around the squad, and has no regrets about his participation in the tournament.
He said: “I really enjoyed being at the World Cup.
“It was a massive surprise to be involved in the squads leading up to it, to play some games and then to be called up for the World Cup itself.
“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to during the tournament but it was amazing to be there, and to share it with my family when they travelled to England.”
His international exploits had the down-side of missing the Falcons’ entire pre-season campaign as well as their Kings of the North matches, Socino playing six of the club’s nine Premiership games as well as starting last Saturday’s European Challenge Cup game in Russia.
Admitting it has taken a bit of time to adjust back to club duty, he said: “Of course it is difficult coming into the middle of the Premiership season.
“You don’t work with the boys during pre-season, you are coming in from a different game-plan and, in my case, a different language.
“When you arrive and the guys are already playing league games it is tough, but it is up to the player to adapt and to not make it a long-term problem.”
Keen to help Newcastle rise from the bottom of the Premiership table, he added: “Nobody wants to look at the season as a relegation battle, but the reality is we are down there.
“We have lots of time left to improve that situation, and we have trust that our systems and players will get us the results we need to move up the table.
“That is all we are thinking about.”
Newcastle’s next assignment comes on Saturday at Kingston Park when Brive are the European Challenge Cup visitors in a 3pm kick-off. The French club lead the group following Saturday’s 21-18 home win over Connacht, Newcastle in third after losing 24-7 in Russia the same day.
Newcastle’s chances of automatic quarter-final qualification as one of the five group winners rely on Russian side Enisei-STM beating Connacht in Galway, and a bonus-point home win over Brive is realistically the minimum requirement to stand any chance of progression, even as one of the three best runners-up.