History of the Argentina national rugby union team

The History of the Argentina national rugby union team starts with the first international played by an Argentine side against the British Isles in 1910 when they toured on South America.

In that tour the national team was nicknamed Los Pumas, a name that became an identity mark for Argentina, remaining to present days.

In 1910, a side managed by Oxford University – supposedly the England national team, but including three Scottish players — toured Argentina as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the May Revolution.

[8] Argentina's most notable players were captain Oswald St. John Gebbie and Barrie Heatlie, a South African that had played for the Springboks.

[9] 1927 also saw the first time Argentina wore the traditional light blue and white jersey, after a proposal from Mr. Abelardo Gutiérrez of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires.

Huntley Robertson (captain)[12] Two of the members of the Junior Springboks, Rybeck Elliot and Wollie Wolheim, would return to Argentina one year later to play for Hindú Club.

In 1959 the Junior Springboks returned to South America to play a series of friendly matches in Buenos Aires and Rosario against local clubs and combined teams.

The Argentine line-up for the first game was 15.Rodolfo Devoto, 14.Enrique Krossler, 13.Esteban Karplus, 12.Ricardo Oliveri, 11.Enrico Neri, 10.Isidro Comas (cap), 9.Eduardo González del Solar, 8.Florencio Varela, 7.

Glauco Wessek, 6.Jorge Pulido, 5.Aitor Otano, 4.Rodolfo Schmidt, 3.Eduardo Sorhaburu, 2.Juan Casanegra, 1.Elías Gavina The following year Argentina again showed their dominance at continental level, winning the South American tournament held in Montevideo by beating Brazil 60–0, Uruguay 36–3 and Chile 11–3.

In 1964, a new version of the South American tournament was played in San Pablo and Argentina again achieved huge victories over Uruguay (25–6), Brazil (30–5) and Chile (30–8).

Argentina defeated Wales in the first test by 9–6, with the following line-up: 15.Jorge Seaton, 14.Mario Walther, 13.Arturo Rodriguez Jurado, 12.Marcelo Pascual, 11.Alejandro Travaglini, 10.Jorge Dartiguelongue, 9.Adolfo Etchegaray, 7.Miguel Chesta, 8.

The line-up v. the Gazelles was D. Morgan; M. Pascual, R. Matarazzo, A. Rodríguez Jurado (h), A. Travaglini; R. Espagnol, G. Blaksley; H. Silva (c), J. Wittman, N. Carbone; B. Otaño, A. Anthony; R. Foster, R. Handley, L. García Yáñez.

During their tour, the Pumas came tantalizingly close to a historic victory at Cardiff Arms Park over Wales, then the dominant force in the Northern Hemisphere.

The line-up for Argentina v. Wales was Martin Sansot; Daniel Beccar Varela, Alejandro Travaglini, Gonzalo Beccar Varela, Jorge Gauweloose; Hugo Porta, Adolfo Etchegaray (C); Jorge Carracedo, Ricardo Mastai, Carlos Neyra; José Fernández, Eliseo Branca; Rito Iraneta, Jose Costante, Fernando Insúa.

The Argentine line-up was Martín Sansot; Adolfo Cappelletti, Marcelo Loffreda, Rafael Madero, Marcelo Ocampo; Hugo Porta, Alfredo Soares Gache; Gabriel Travaglini, Tomas Petersen, Héctor Silva; Marcos Iachetti, Alejandro Iachetti; Enrique Rodriguez, Javier Pérez Cobo, Hugo Nicola.

This allowed the Pumas to face some of the most important sides of the world, such as England, France, New Zealand and Australia national rugby union team.

The line-up for that notable match was Diego Cash; Alejandro Cubelli, Fernando Morel; Eliseo Branca, Gustavo Milano; Tomás Petersen, Jorge Allen, Ernesto Ure; Guillermo Holmgren, Hugo Porta (c); Pedro Lanza, Diego Cuesta Silva, Fabián Turnes, Juan Lanza, Bernardo Miguens.

Argentina remained unbeaten in the two test-matches played vs. the Australian side, with a 19–19 tie in the first game and an outstanding victory by 27-19 in the second match on November 7 at Vélez Sársfield.

The line-up was A. Scolni; D. Cuesta Silva, Loffreda, Turnes, Mendy; R. Madero, Baetti; Allen (c), Milano, Garretón; Iachetti, Branca; Cash, Courreges, Dengra.

Argentina's tighthead prop, Patricio Noriega and hooker, Federico Méndez, went to play in Australia and South Africa respectively after their performance.

Los Pumas handed defending Six Nations champion France a 24–14 loss in November 2004 at Marseille, before losing 21–19 to Ireland on a last-minute drop goal.

When the Springboks returned to Argentina in November of that year at Vélez Sársfield, they faced a much stronger Pumas side, with most of their European-based players present.

The Sunday Times of London reported in February 2007 that the IRB was brokering a deal with SANZAR, the body that organises the Tri Nations, to admit Los Pumas to the competition.

An IRB spokesman noted the contract, Southern Hemisphere fixture congestion, and the lack of a professional structure in Argentina as reasons that Los Pumas could not be admitted any sooner.

At the World Cup, Los Pumas were drawn into the so-called pool of death, featuring two other teams ranked in the top six in the IRB rankings—Ireland and the hosts France.

The Pumas' improbable run towards the Webb Ellis trophy ended in a comprehensive 37–13 defeat by the Springboks in the semi-final at Stade de France.

The decisions made at the conference regarding Argentina were:[43] On March 13, 2008, Santiago Phelan was named as the coach of the Argentine rugby union team, filling the vacancy left by Marcelo Loffreda.

World Cup preparations for Los Pumas began with a drawn 1–1 series against the French Barbarians, a 78–15 win against a South American Invitational XV, and a 21–15 victory against the Aviva Premiership club Worcester Warriors.

In the 2020 edition, again convert in a Tri Nations format because of the Pandemic, (South Africa did not play), Argentina defeat the All Blacks for the first time in history.

Argentina dominated the territory and possession of the remainder of the match, gaining a number of penalties at the scrum to gradually reduce Australia's lead.