SPURRED on by the disappointment of his Argentina snub, Warriors fly-half Ignacio Mieres is determined to impress for his new club in the Aviva Premiership.
The former Exeter man was omitted from head coach Santiago Phelan’s 30-man squad for the Rugby Championship, but dreams of again playing for Los Pumas.
Worcester’s new recruit, who has been capped six times by his country, recognises he was unlikely to make the squad for the current championship being played in South Africa after falling out of favour at Sandy Park.
However, with fellow Warriors fly-half Paul Warwick sidelined by a thumb injury, Mieres has the chance to press his claims for the Worcester number 10 jersey.
“If you don’t play for your club it is difficult to be playing international rugby — one thing goes with the other,” said Mieres. “It was a big disappointment of course, because it is my biggest dream to play for my country, but I knew that it would be hard if I didn’t play for my club.”
Mieres’ countrymen Leonardo Senatore and Agustin Creevy will arrive at Sixways soon to boost the South American contingent and he believes they will excite the Warriors faithful.
He added: “I have spent a few tours and have played quite a bit with both of them — they are two great ball-carriers. Senatore is a big boy, who can play six or eight, and is a good ball-carrier with great skill.
“They are playing at the top level at the moment against the three best teams in the world, so they will add a lot of quality to the squad when they arrive.
“They are two international players who have both played quite a few Test matches for the Pumas. Agustin is a very strong guy and he loves the off-loads, so it should be very exciting to watch them.
“They are good guys and it will be nice to have some more Argentinians here.”
Meanwhile, Mieres insisted that there is no reason why Worcester can’t follow his former club’s lead and play in the Heineken Cup.
“I see a lot of similarities between Exeter and Worcester,” he said. “The first thing I said when I came here was how similar they are — both have humble, hard-working boys, great facilities and you can see everyone is working for us to be better.
“If Exeter are in the Heineken Cup, any team can really be in the Heineken Cup. It’s all about performing and getting the results and we are working towards that.
“I think it was the right moment for me to change clubs. I wasn’t playing a lot last season and what I really want is to keep playing, learning and to play for my country.
“I had my opinions on certain things, but I just felt it was the right moment for me to move. Coming to Worcester was an exciting project and I was excited to come here.”
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