Marcelo Loffreda
Marcelo Loffreda (born May 17, 1959, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine former rugby union footballer and coach. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side (los Pumas). He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta and scored 4 test tries.
 Loffreda in 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | May 17, 1959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Buenos Aires, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 1994 he hung up his playing boots and became a coach. In April 2000, he was appointed coach of Argentina and steered them to series victories over France, Wales and Scotland, a draw with the British and Irish Lions, a win against England at Twickenham in November 2006 as well as coming close to securing the Pumas' first victories over South Africa and New Zealand. The Pumas went on to their all-time best finish of third at the 2007 World Cup, including an opening win over hosts France, a pool win over Ireland, and another win over France in the third-place match. This success was Loffreda's swansong as Pumas coach, as he had announced months before the tournament that he would leave the Pumas after the World Cup for the job of Director of Rugby at Leicester.[1]
Loffreda graduated in civil engineering at Universidad de Buenos Aires and was sales manager for Argentine textile and footwear company Alpargatas.[2]
He is married with five children: Sophia, Nicolas, Juana, Olivia and Marina (in age order)
Loffreda was sacked from his job as Head Coach at Leicester on June 6, 2008, after just one season at the club. Despite reaching two finals (EDF energy and Guinness Premiership) he was dismissed due to poor results. Leicester only just reached the Premiership playoffs and barely qualified for the Heineken Cup; from a club of this self-perceived standard, this was seen as unacceptable. He was succeeded as Leicester Tigers coach by then 40-year-old South African, Heyneke Meyer in late June 2008.
He has returned to Argentina as a coach.
International Matches as Head Coach
Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking Argentina was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches
| Matches (2000–2007) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | Date | Opposition | Venue | Score (Arg.–Opponent) |
Competition | Captain | World Rank |
| 2000 | |||||||
| 1 | 3 June | Ireland | Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires | 34–23 | Mid-year test | Agustín Pichot | N/A |
| 2 | 17 June | Australia | Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane | 6–53 | Australia tour | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 3 | 24 June | Canberra Stadium, Canberra | 25–32 | ||||
| 4 | 12 November | South Africa | River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires | 33–37 | End-of-year tests | ||
| 5 | 25 November | England | Twickenham, London | 0–19 | |||
| 2001 | |||||||
| 6 | 19 May | Uruguay | Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston | 32–27 | PARA Pan American Championship | Agustín Pichot | N/A |
| 7 | 23 May | United States | Mohawk Sports Park, Hamilton | 44–16 | |||
| 8 | 26 May | Canada | Fletcher's Fields, Markham | 20–6 | |||
| 9 | 23 June | New Zealand | Lancaster Park, Christchurch | 19–67 | Mid-year test | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 10 | 14 July | Italy | Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires | 38–17 | Mid-year test | ||
| 11 | 10 November | Wales | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | 30–16 | End-of-year tests | ||
| 12 | 18 November | Scotland | Murrayfield, Edinburgh | 25–16 | |||
| 13 | 1 December | New Zealand | River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires | 20–24 | |||
| 2002 | |||||||
| 14 | 28 April | Uruguay | Estadio Bautista Gargantini, Mendoza | 35–21 | South American Rugby Championship | Nicolás Fernández Miranda | N/A |
| 15 | 1 May | Paraguay | 152–0 | Santiago Phelan | |||
| 16 | 4 May | Chile | 57–13 | Nicolás Fernández Miranda | |||
| 17 | 15 June | France | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires | 28–27 | Mid-year tests | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 18 | 22 June | England | 18–26 | Agustín Pichot | |||
| 19 | 29 June | South Africa | PAM Brink Stadium, Springs | 29–49 | |||
| 20 | 2 November | Australia | River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires | 6–17 | End-of-year tests | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 21 | 16 November | Italy | Stadio Flaminio, Rome | 33–6 | |||
| 22 | 23 November | Ireland | Lansdowne Road, Dublin | 7–16 | |||
| 2003 | |||||||
| 23 | 27 April | Paraguay | Estadio Luis Franzini, Montevideo | 144–0 | South American Rugby Championship | Lucas Ostiglia | N/A |
| 24 | 30 April | Chile | 49–3 | Nicolás Fernández Miranda | |||
| 25 | 3 May | Uruguay | 32–0 | Sebastián Aguirre | |||
| 26 | 14 June | France | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires | 10–6 | France Series | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 27 | 20 June | 33–32 | |||||
| 28 | 28 June | South Africa | EPRU Stadium, Port Elizabeth | 25–26 | Mid-year test | Gonzalo Longo | |
| 29 | 18 August | Fiji | Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba | 49–30 | Test Match | ||
| 30 | 23 August | United States | B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires | 42–8 | PARA Pan American Championship | Lisandro Arbizu | |
| 31 | 27 August | Uruguay | C.A.S.I., Buenos Aires | 57–0 | Agustin Pichot | ||
| 32 | 30 August | Canada | B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires | 62–22 | Lisandro Arbizu | ||
| 33 | 10 October | Australia | Stadium Australia, Sydney | 8–24 | 2003 Rugby World Cup | Agustin Pichot | 7th |
| 34 | 14 October 2003 | Namibia | Central Coast Stadium, Gosford | 67–14 | Nicolás Fernández Miranda | 7th | |
| 35 | 22 October 2003 | Romania | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney | 50–3 | Santiago Phelan | 7th | |
| 36 | 26 October | Ireland | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide | 15–16 | Agustin Pichot | 7th | |
| 2004 | |||||||
| 37 | 25 April | Chile | Prince of Wales Country Club, Santiago | 45–3 | South American Rugby Championship | Federico Méndez | 7th |
| 38 | 28 April | Uruguay | 69–10 | 7th | |||
| 39 | 1 May | Venezuela | 147–7 | Pablo Bouza | 7th | ||
| 40 | 12 June | Wales | Estadio Monumental José Fierro, San Miguel de Tucumán | 50–44 | Wales Series | Gonzalo Longo | 7th |
| 41 | 19 June | Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires | 20–35 | 8th | |||
| 42 | 26 June | New Zealand | Waikato Stadium, Hamilton | 7–41 | Mid-year test | 8th | |
| 43 | 20 November | France | Stade Vélodrome, Marseille | 24–14 | End-of-year tests | Agustin Pichot | 7th |
| 44 | 27 November | Ireland | Lansdowne Road, Dublin | 19–21 | 7th | ||
| 45 | 4 December | South Africa | José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires | 7–39 | 7th | ||
| 2005 | |||||||
| 46 | 23 April | Japan | B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires | 68–36 | Nicolás Fernández Miranda | Test Match | 8th |
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W 68-36 v Japan Buenos Aires 23 Apr 2005 W 48-13 v Chile Buenos Aires 8 May W 27-21 v Uruguay Buenos Aires 15 May W 35-21 v Italy Salta 11 Jun W 29-30 v Italy Cordoba 17 Jun L 23-34 v South Africa Buenos Aires 5 Nov W 23-19 v Scotland Murrayfield 12 Nov W 39-22 v Italy Genova 19 Nov L 12-28 v Samoa Buenos Aires 3 Dec
W 27-25 v Wales Puerto Madryn 11 Jun 2006 W 45-27 v Wales Buenos Aires 17 Jun L 19-25 v New Zealand Buenos Aires 24 Jun W 60-13 v Chile Santiago 1 Jul W 26-0 v Uruguay Buenos Aires 8 Jul W 25-18 v England Twickenham 11 Nov (Maiden win in England) W 23-16 v Italy Rome 18 Nov L 26-27 v France Stade de France 25 Nov
W 22-20 v Ireland Santa Fe 26 May 2007 W 16-0 v Ireland Buenos Aires 2 Jun W 24-6 v Italy Mendoza 9 Jun L 20-27 v Wales Millennium Stadium 18 Aug W 17-12 v France Stade de France 7 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup W 33-3 v Georgia Lyon 11 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup W 63-3 v Namibia Marseille 22 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup W 30-15 v Ireland Parc des Princes 30 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup W 19-13 v Scotland Stade de France 7 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup L 13-37 v South Africa Stade de France 14 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup W 34-10 v France Parc des Princes 19 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup
Honours
- Rugby World Cup
- Third Place: 2007
- PARA Pan American Championship
- Champions: 2001, 2003
- South American Rugby Championship
- Maiden test win in England in 2006.
- First home test win over France (who won the Grand Slam that year) in 2002 since 1986, then a maiden test series win over France in 2003, first test win on French soil since 1992 and two test wins over France during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
- Maiden home win over Ireland in 2000 and then a maiden series win over Ireland in 2007.
- First test win in Italy since 1978.
- Maiden test win in Wales in 2000, then maiden home win over Wales in 2004.
References
- Loffreda named as new Tigers boss - BBC News, April 25, 2007
- "Ruge por Loffreda". edant.ole.com.ar. Retrieved 2019-08-15.