Argentina national rugby union team

Argentina
Nickname(s)	Los Pumas
Emblem	Jaguar
Union	Argentine Rugby Union
Head coach	Mario Ledesma
Captain	Agustín Creevy
Most caps	Felipe Contepomi (87)[1][2][3]
Top scorer	Nicolás Sánchez (655)[4][5][6]
Top try scorer	José María Núñez Piossek (30)
Home stadium	José Amalfitani
First colours	Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	9 (as of 21 May 2018)
Highest	3 (2008)
Lowest	12 (2014)
First international
	Argentina 3–28 British Isles; (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 12 June 1910)
Biggest win
	Argentina 152–0 Paraguay; (Mendoza, Argentina; 1 May 2002)
Biggest defeat
	New Zealand 93–8 Argentina; (Wellington, New Zealand; 21 June 1997)
World Cup
Appearances	8 (First in 1987)
Best result	Third place, 2007
Website	www.lospumas.com.ar

The Argentina national rugby team is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR, from the Spanish: Unión Argentina de Rugby). Nicknamed the Pumas (Los Pumas in Spanish), they play in sky blue and white jerseys,

Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. As of 12 July 2017 they are ranked 9th in the world by the IRB, making them the highest-ranked nation in the Americas. They have competed at every Rugby World Cup staged since the first tournament of 1987, and the country are considered the strongest within the Americas, being undefeated against all but Canada, against whom they have suffered three losses.

Although rugby union in Argentina is not as popular as football, the Pumas' impressive results since the 1999 World Cup have seen the sport's popularity grow significantly. Argentina has achieved several upset victories, are tough contenders when playing in Buenos Aires, and are capable of regularly defeating Six Nations sides. A surprise victory over the hosts France in the first game of the 2007 World Cup took Argentina to fourth in the IRB World Rankings. The team were undefeated in their pool, and reached the semi-finals for the first time, beating Scotland 19–13 in their quarter-final. They were defeated 37–13 by eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals, but followed this up with a second win over France to claim third place overall. By the end of the competition, the team had reached an all-time high of third in the World Rankings.

After their advances in competitiveness and performance during the 2000s, coupled with their location in the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina was the only tier 1 nation that had no regular competition, and some, among them former Pumas captain Agustín Pichot,^[7] had even spoken of them joining the Six Nations. Argentina officially joined The Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on November 23, 2011.^[8] In their first tournament in 2012, Argentina secured a 16–16 draw with The Springboks in only their second game.

The 2014 Rugby Championship saw the first Championship-match win for Argentina who defeated Australia 21–17.^[9] 2015 proved to be a very successful year for Argentine rugby, as the last match of the 2015 Rugby Championship was Argentina's first ever win over South Africa, where the Pumas defeated the Springboks 37–25 in Durban, and they reached another semifinal at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In the 2016 Rugby Championship, the Pumas split the first two games with the Springboks, winning the second game 26-24 at Salta on August 27, 2016. While they were winless during the 2017 Rugby Championship, the Pumas have already won two Tests in the 2018 Rugby Championship, beating the Springboks 32-19 in Mendoza on August 25th, 2018 and Australia 19-23 in Gold Coast on September 15, 2018.

History

The first Argentina national team ever before playing the British Lions, 12 June 1910

The History of the Argentina national team starts with the first international played by an Argentine side v. the British Islands in 1910 when they toured on South America. Argentina gained recognition in 1965, when the team toured South Africa playing a series of friendly matches there. In that tour the national team was nicknamed Los Pumas, a name that became an identity mark for Argentina, remaining to present days.

Argentina has taken part in all the Rugby World Cups since the first edition in 1987, their best performance being the third place achieved in 2007. Argentina followed their growing competitiveness in the Rugby Championship with a strong showing in the 2015 World Cup, reaching the semi-finals for the second time. The national side also plays the Rugby Championship since the 2012 edition, after joining the competition one year before.^[10]

Colours, symbol and name

The team that played the first test v. the British Lions wearing the light blue and white jersey for the first time on 31 July 1927

Argentina alternated blue and white jerseys during its first international matches in 1910. In 1927 Mr. Abelardo Gutiérrez of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires proposed that Argentina should play against British Lions wearing a striped light blue and white jersey. That request was accepted and Argentina wore the striped uniform for the first time in its history.^[11]

The Jaguar, native of the northeastern Argentina was chosen as the symbol of the team in 1941

Los Pumas play in a shirt in the country's flag (and sporting) colours of light blue and white, white shorts, and socks in light blue and white. In 2011, the UAR signed a deal with Nike which became the exclusive kit provider for all its national senior and youth teams, including Pampas XV.^[12] The first uniform designed by the American company left the traditional horizontal-striped jersey behind, featuring a single light blue with white shoulders jersey, although it was announced that Los Pumas will wear its traditional uniform again when they play the 2012 Rugby Championship.^[13]

On September 1941, Abelardo Gutiérrez (who had proposed the use of a white and blue jersey for the team 14 years prior) suggested a badge with the figure of a lion. The color of the crest was blue (due to Buenos Aires Cricket Club, where the first rugby match in Argentine had been played). The animal was later replaced by a native to Argentine species, so the jaguar was chosen due to his "agility and courage", according to their words.^[11]

The Pumas nickname is the result of an error made by Carl Kohler, a journalist for the then Die Transvaler newspaper in South Africa, while following the team during their first overseas tour ever – to Southern Africa in 1965. He tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. He asked Isak van Heerden, the then coach of the Natal Rugby team who was asked by the SARB to assist with the tour, for ideas. They saw a picture of a type of lion with spots on the UAR crest. Kohler was aware that the Americas had jaguars and pumas, and as he was under pressure to submit his article, made a guess and called them the Pumas, instead of the actual jaguar. The mistake stuck, and was eventually adopted by the Argentines themselves (although the UAR crest still depicts a jaguar).^[14]

Uniform evolution

1910–27 ^{[note 1]}

1927–present

2012–15

Notes:

1 2 Until 1927 Argentina wore blue and white jerseys, with no further clarification about when they worn one or another kit

Kit suppliers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1978 – 1998	Adidas	No shirt sponsor
1999 – 2000	Adidas	VISA
2000 – 2003	Topper
2004 – 2011	Adidas
2012 – present	Nike

Home grounds

Estadio Ciudad de La Plata has hosted some games v. The All Blacks as part of The Rugby Championship.

Ferro Carril Oeste was a frequent venue in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Pumas use a variety of stadiums when playing at home. One of the most frequently used for tests is José Amalfitani Stadium, home of Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield and sited in Buenos Aires. When Great Britain made their first tour to Argentina in 1910, the national team played them at Sociedad Sportiva Argentina of Palermo. That test was also notable for being the first Argentina match ever.^[15]^[16]

When the British combined returned to Argentina in 1927, the national side started to use GEBA and Buenos Aires Cricket Club as their home venues. GEBA was a frecquent venue during the next decades, but hosted only three matches after the 1960s, as the Pumas started using larger stadiums; the Pumas' last match at GEBA was in 1993.^[17] On the other side, the Buenos Aires Cricket was also used for a large number of matches until 1948 when it was destroyed by fire.^[18]^[19]

In 1997 BACRC inaugurated the first purpose-built rugby union stadium in Argentina, erected in Los Polvorines, Greater Buenos Aires. A total of nine international games were played there by the national team until 2005 when it was sold.^[20]

Los Pumas played in Ferro Carril Oeste stadium during the 1970s and 1980s, where Argentina played Ireland, New Zealand, France and Australia among others.^[21]^[22]

During the mid year tests in 2007, as well as Vélez Sársfield, Argentina played games at venues including Brigadier Estanislao López in Santa Fe, Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, and Gigante de Arroyito, in Rosario. Argentina have also used the River Plate Stadium in the past, and in 2006 hosted Wales at Estadio Raúl Conti in Puerto Madryn.

Records

Overall

Argentina have won 229 of their 439 Test matches, a win record of 52.16%. When the world rankings were introduced by the IRB in October 2003, Argentina were ranked seventh. They fell to eighth in the rankings in June 2004, before rising back to seventh by November that year. They fell back to eighth in February 2005, and stayed there until falling to their lowest ranking of ninth in February 2006. Since then, Argentina rose to eighth in July 2006, then sixth in November of that year. They had a one-week fall to seventh, then one week later rose to fifth to start the World Cup 2007.

Los Pumas twice surpassed their highest ranking at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.^[23] Defeating number three France, the second opening game loss for a World Cup hosting nation, moved them into fourth place, their highest position since the IRB World Rankings were established. They lost to eventual champions South Africa in the semi-final but beat France yet again in the bronze medal round to set another highest ranking, third, behind South Africa and New Zealand.

Argentina has won every match against South American national teams, including 41 against Uruguay, 38 against Chile, 17 against Paraguay and 13 against Brazil. In contrast, they have never beaten New Zealand, having scored a draw against them.

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by an Argentina national XV at test level up until 29 September 2018.^[24]

Men's World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 8 October 2018^[25]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	092.96
2		Ireland	090.12
3		Wales	085.94
4		England	085.68
5		South Africa	083.52
6		Scotland	083.02
7		Australia	082.86
8		France	079.10
9		Argentina	078.01
10		Fiji	076.54
11		Japan	075.24
12		Tonga	073.84
13		Georgia	073.13
14		Italy	072.56
15		United States	071.66
16		Samoa	068.28
17		Romania	068.25
18		Uruguay	065.37
19		Russia	064.89
20		Spain	063.09
21		Hong Kong	060.46
22		Namibia	059.97
23		Canada	059.93
24		Portugal	058.30
25		Belgium	058.09
26		Brazil	056.81
27		Netherlands	056.52
28		Kenya	055.71
29		Germany	055.59
30		Chile	054.36
*Change from the previous week
Argentina's historical rankings

Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 2 July 2018^[25]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Australia	30	6	23	1	20.00%	491	843	-352
Brazil	13	13	0	0	100.00%	1054	47	+1007
British and Irish Lions	6	0	6	0	0.00%	6	211	-205
Canada	8	6	2	0	75.00%	262	137	+125
Chile	38	38	0	0	100.00%	1803	255	+1548
England	23	4	18	1	17.39%	363	609	-246
England XV	1	0	0	1	0.00%	13	13	+0
Fiji	4	3	1	0	75.00%	130	96	+34
France	50	14	35	1	28.00%	784	1215	-431
Georgia	5	5	0	0	100.00%	186	66	+120
Ireland	17	6	11	0	35.29%	349	379	-30
Ireland XV	5	2	2	1	40.00%	25	36	-11
Italy	22	16	5	1	72.72%	557	383	+174
Japan	6	5	1	0	83.33%	259	159	+100
Junior Springboks	5	1	4	0	20.00%	26	166	-90
Namibia	3	3	0	0	100.00%	194	36	+158
New Zealand	28	0	27	1	0.00%	406	1130	-724
New Zealand XV	4	0	4	0	0.00%	30	80	-50
Oxford and Cambridge	8	2	5	1	25.00%	48	126	-78
Paraguay	17	17	0	0	100.00%	1382	65	+1317
Peru	1	1	0	0	100.00%	44	0	+44
Romania	8	8	0	0	100.00%	317	97	+220
Samoa	4	1	3	0	25%	82	111	-29
Scotland	17	9	8	0	52.94%	299	372	-73
Scotland XV	3	1	2	0	33.33%	34	21	+13
South Africa	28	3	24	1	10.71%	563	988	-425
South Africa Gazelles	6	2	4	0	33.33%	60	71	-11
Spain	4	4	0	0	100.00%	149	75	+74
Tonga	1	1	0	0	100.00%	45	16	+29
United States	8	8	0	0	100.00%	247	119	+128
Uruguay	41	41	0	0	100.00%	1720	413	+1307
Venezuela	1	1	0	0	100.00%	147	7	+140
Wales	18	5	13	0	27.78%	392	505	-113
Wales XV	3	1	1	1	33.33%	37	34	+3
World XV	2	2	0	0	100.00%	64	42	+22
Zimbabwe	1	0	1	0	0.00%	12	17	-5
Total	439	229	200	10	52.16%	12576	8890	+3686

Rugby World Cup

Year	Round	Position	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Pts For	Against
1987 (16)	Pool Stage	13th	3	1	0	2	49	90
1991 (16)	Pool Stage	14th	3	0	0	3	38	83
1995 (16)	Pool Stage	13th	3	0	0	3	69	87
1999 (20)	Quarter Final	8th	5	3	0	2	137	122
2003 (20)	Pool Stage	9th	4	2	0	2	140	57
2007 (20)	Third place	3rd	7	6	0	1	209	93
2011 (20)	Quarter Final	8th	5	3	0	2	100	73
2015 (20)	Fourth place	4th	7	4	0	3	250	143
2019 (20)
Total	–	–	37	19	–	18	992	748

The Rugby Championship

Rugby Championship (2012–present)
Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points	Titles won
Nation	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Bonus points	Table points	Titles won
New Zealand	39	35	1	3	1361	672	+689	26	168	6
Australia	39	17	3	19	872	1017	−145	8	83	1
South Africa	39	17	3	19	951	928	+23	17	91	0
Argentina	39	5	1	33	727	1294	−567	9	31	0

Updated: 7 October 2018
Source: espnscrum.com

Players

Current squad

On 6 August, newly appointed head coach Mario Ledesma named a 36-man squad for the 2018 Rugby Championship.^[26]

Ahead of the traveling to South Africa for the opening match, Tomás Lezana joined the squad after recovering from injury.^[27]

On 9 August, Juan Figallo became the first European based player to be selected for the national side since the 2015 World Cup, after a change of selection policy under Ledesma.^[28]

On 19 August, Santiago Álvarez, Facundo Bosch and Santiago Carreras joined the ahead of the round 2 home clash against South Africa.^[29]

On 27 August, Gaston Cortes joined the squad for the Oceania leg of the Championship in rounds 3 and 4.^[30]

On 19 September, Ramiro Herrera, Matías Osadczuk, Lucas Paulos and Enrique Pieretto joined were added as part of the training squad ahead of the fifth round clash with New Zealand.^[31]

On 24 September, Manuel Montero joined the squad as injury cover for Ramiro Moyano.^[32]

Head Coach: Mario Ledesma

Caps Updated: 29 September 2018

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of Birth (Age)	Caps	Club/province
Facundo Bosch	Hooker	(1991-08-08) 8 August 1991	1	Agen
Agustín Creevy (c)	Hooker	(1985-03-15) 15 March 1985	79	Jaguares
Diego Fortuny	Hooker	(1991-09-27) 27 September 1991	1	Jaguares
Julián Montoya	Hooker	(1993-10-29) 29 October 1993	47	Jaguares
Marco Ciccioli	Prop	(1995-11-06) 6 November 1995	0	CASI
Gaston Cortes	Prop	(1985-10-06) 6 October 1985	5	Leicester Tigers
Lucas Favre	Prop	(1996-11-20) 20 November 1996	0	Lomas
Juan Figallo	Prop	(1988-03-25) 25 March 1988	26	Saracens
Santiago García Botta	Prop	(1992-06-19) 19 June 1992	29	Jaguares
Ramiro Herrera	Prop	(1989-02-14) 14 February 1989	38	Stade Français
Santiago Medrano	Prop	(1996-05-06) 6 May 1996	7	Jaguares
Enrique Pieretto	Prop	(1994-12-15) 15 December 1994	24	Jaguares
Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro	Prop	(1989-06-11) 11 June 1989	49	Jaguares
Mayco Vivas	Prop	(1998-06-02) 2 June 1998	0	Atlético del Rosario
Juan Pablo Zeiss	Prop	(1989-08-02) 2 August 1989	3	Los Matreros
Matías Alemanno	Lock	(1991-12-05) 5 December 1991	49	Jaguares
Ignacio Larrague	Lock	(1995-10-25) 25 October 1995	2	CASI
Tomás Lavanini	Lock	(1993-01-22) 22 January 1993	46	Jaguares
Franco Molina	Lock	(1997-08-28) 28 August 1997	0	Jockey Córdoba
Guido Petti Pagadizábal	Lock	(1994-11-17) 17 November 1994	41	Jaguares
Lucas Paulos	Lock	(1998-01-09) 9 January 1998	0	Olivos
Santiago Grondana	Flanker	(1998-07-25) 25 July 1998	0	Champagnat
Marcos Kremer	Flanker	(1997-07-30) 30 July 1997	20	Jaguares
Juan Manuel Leguizamón	Flanker	(1983-06-06) 6 June 1983	84	Jaguares
Pablo Matera	Flanker	(1993-07-18) 18 July 1993	54	Jaguares
Javier Ortega Desio	Flanker	(1990-06-14) 14 June 1990	47	Jaguares
Tomás Lezana	Flanker	(1994-02-16) 16 February 1994	27	Jaguares
Rodrigo Bruni	Number 8	(1993-09-03) 3 September 1993	0	San Luis
Gonzalo Bertranou	Scrum-half	(1993-12-31) 31 December 1993	16	Jaguares
Tomás Cubelli	Scrum-half	(1989-06-12) 12 June 1989	66	Jaguares
Martín Landajo	Scrum-half	(1988-06-14) 14 June 1988	83	Jaguares
Joaquín Díaz Bonilla	Fly-half	(1989-04-12) 12 April 1989	0	Jaguares
Nicolás Sánchez	Fly-half	(1988-10-26) 26 October 1988	70	Jaguares
Santiago Álvarez	Centre	(1994-02-17) 17 February 1994	0	Jaguares
Jerónimo de la Fuente	Centre	(1991-02-24) 24 February 1991	42	Jaguares
Bautista Ezcurra	Centre	(1995-04-21) 21 April 1995	5	Jaguares
Santiago González Iglesias	Centre	(1988-06-16) 16 June 1988	42	Jaguares
Matías Moroni	Centre	(1991-03-29) 29 March 1991	36	Jaguares
Matías Orlando	Centre	(1991-11-14) 14 November 1991	35	Jaguares
Matías Osadczuk	Centre	(1997-04-22) 22 April 1997	0	SITAS
Sebastián Cancelliere	Wing	(1993-09-17) 17 September 1993	7	Jaguares
Bautista Delguy	Wing	(1997-04-22) 22 April 1997	8	Jaguares
Manuel Montero	Wing	(1991-11-20) 20 November 1991	27	Pucará
Ramiro Moyano	Wing	(1990-05-28) 28 May 1990	26	Jaguares
Emiliano Boffelli	Fullback	(1995-01-16) 16 January 1995	19	Jaguares
Santiago Carreras	Fullback	(1998-03-30) 30 March 1998	0	Córdoba Athletic
Juan Cruz Mallia	Fullback	(1996-09-11) 11 September 1996	5	Jaguares

Coaches

Coaches:^[33]

1932: Edmundo Cundo Stanfield
1936: Luis Cilley, Edmundo Stanfield and C. Huntley Robertson.
1954: Juan C. Wells.
1956: Dermot Cavanagh and Horacio Savino.
1959: Jorge Merelle.
1960: Robert Galarga.
1965: Izaak Van Heerden, Alberto Camardón and Ángel Guastella.
1965–66: Alberto Camardón and Ángel Guastella.
1967–70: Alberto Camardón, Ángel Guastella and Jorge Merelle.
1971: Ángel Guastella and Eduardo Poggi.
1972–73: Ángel Guastella, Eduardo Poggi and Oscar Martínez Basante.
1974: Carlos Villegas, Emilio Perasso and Jorge Merelle.
1975: Eduardo Poggi and Eduardo Scahrenberg.
1976–77: Carlos Villegas and Emilio Perasso.
1978: Ángel Guastella, Aitor Otaño and José L. Imhoff.
1979–80: Luis Gradín and Aitor Otaño.
1981–83: Rodolfo O'Reilly.
1984: Héctor Silva and Aitor Otaño.
1985–86: Héctor Silva, Aitor Otaño and Ángel Guastella.
1987: Héctor Silva and Ángel Guastella.
1988–90: Rodolfo O'Reilly and Raúl Sanz.
1990–91: Luis Gradín and Guillermo Lamarca.
1992: Luis Gradín and John Hart.
1993–94: Héctor Méndez and José J. Fernández.
1995: Alejandro Petra and Ricardo Paganini.
1995: Alejandro Petra and Emilio Perasso.
1996: José Luis Imhoff, José J. Fernández, Héctor Méndez and Alex Wyllie.
1997: José Luis Imhoff, Héctor Méndez and Alex Wyllie.
1998: José Luis Imhoff and Alex Wyllie.
1999: José Luis Imhoff and Alex Wyllie, next Héctor Méndez and Wyllie, next Wyllie alone.
2000–2007 : Marcelo Loffreda and Daniel Baetti.
2008–13: Santiago Phelan and Fabián Turnes^[34]
2013–18: Daniel Hourcade
2018–:Mario Ledesma

After Marcelo Loffreda left following the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the UAR spent nearly five months searching for a successor until opting for a two-coach setup, with former Pumas Santiago Phelan and Fabián Turnes taking over.^[34] On 22 October 2013, Phelan resigned from his post, ending a five-year spell in charge 2 week before Argentina goes on tour as part of the 2013 end-of-year rugby union tests. On 23 October 2013, Argentina Jaguars and Pampas XV head coach Daniel Hourcade was named the new Head Coach and his current contract will run through until the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[35]