For this post you are going to have to remember a few things, so here's a list:

1. The All Blacks v Ireland game last month in which temperatures dropped considerably
2. The picture we found after that game
3. The Argentinean performance at the World Cup (beating France twice and getting to 3rd in the world rankings)
4. That movie Alive, about rugby players in the Andes (who knew Ethan Hawke was in that film?)

Right? We sorted with all those things in your head? Good, now combine them all together and you get a basic picture of... Rugby X-Treme!!! (something called "X-Treme" deserves three exclamation points).

The basic idea is rugby played at full speed and contact at a ski resort in the Andes:

The game uses rugby sevens laws but the field size depends on the
terrain. Added to that, the mountain nature of the sport means that the
field is seldom flat and all the action is played out at altitude so
the thin air adds to the extreme nature.

Rugby X-treme started quietly in 2005 at the Cerro Bayo Ski Resort of
Villa La Angostura but the growth has been so notable that during the
2008 winter season two tournaments have already been played and four
more resorts are bracing themselves for their own Rugby X-treme events.

Fancy a chip-and-chase? But it's not just for crazy amateurs. Tournaments often have Pumas in them and past competitors include Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and IRB Sevens World Series all time leading try scorer Santiago Gómez Cora.

The sport is now so popular with players that it actually has a "season" of six tournaments. This incredible (mad) love of playing the game may make Argentina a real New Zealand-style rugby powerhouse of the future.