Santiago Gómez Cora, head coach for Argentina’s national rugby sevens team, has called his club’s recent triumph at the Hong Kong Sevens the tournament win that “his heart wished for.”

The Pumas Sevens, Argentina’s team in the World Rugby Sevens Series, defeated France 12-7 on Sunday to capture its third title of the season. For the Argentine club, the victory was especially sweet after losing to the French side at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“This is the tournament I wanted to win the most,” said Gómez Cora after the game. “When you talk about rugby sevens, you talk about Hong Kong. This is the Mecca for the game.”

The Pumas coach recalled growing up as a player and fan of the sport, watching the Hong Kong tourney, which up until 2013 awarded 30 points to the winner — 10 more than every other contest in the series — and the largest prize pot.

“It’s a special tournament,” he said. “It has always been special, and it’s the tournament my heart most desired.” 

Gómez Cora added that while major sporting events like the Olympics now include rugby sevens, Hong Kong remains its largest stage. The Argentine coach, who missed the last two tournaments following back surgery, has now won a total of ten titles as the head coach of the Pumas.

“Argentina is always about the sacrifice, the fight,” he said. “I went a whole month without being able to walk. I’m still hurting from the hours sitting in a plane, but this team makes it all worthwhile, so I’m happy to be here and to have won this title.”

Marcos Moneta, who earned man-of-the-match honors in the final, echoed his coach’s words.

“It’s crazy; I don’t need to explain that,” he said after the game. “This is a historic tournament. It was always very hard for us because of how far away Argentina is. We never quite had a big performance here, so it’s a dream to have finally won it.”