The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed los Pumas, is currently the top rugby union team in the Americas.
The first rugby match in Argentina was played in 1873, the game having been brought to South America by the British, although it was only 26 years later, in 1899, that four clubs in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, got together to form the River Plate Rugby Football Union.
This body, one of the oldest rugby unions in the world, later became known as the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR), which became a member of the International Rugby Board (IRB) only after being invited to the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.
The team's nickname of Pumas is generally believed to be the result of an error made by a newsman who followed the team during a tour of Southern Africa in 1965. Reporters were trying to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. One of them saw the picture of an animal on the UAR crest; however, he thought it was a puma instead of the actual jaguar. The mistake stuck, and was eventually adopted by the Argentines themselves (although the UAR crest still depicts a jaguar).
Argentina's traditional strengths have lied in their forwards and their scrummaging (known as the bajadita).
Although not a member of rugby union's elite, Argentina has managed from its appearance in the international arena to accomplish several upset victories, and has been a tough contender when playing in Buenos Aires. From the late seventies to the early nineties, Argentina never lost the two matches of a series held in Buenos Aires, in a period that included victories against France, England, Australia and a 21-21 tie to the All Blacks, which is probably the most important result ever obtained by the Pumas, thanks to a terrific performance by Hugo Porta who scored all of Argentina's points.
By the time the first Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, in 1987, Argentines were confident its national team would at least make it to quarterfinals. However, an unexpected loss to Western Samoa prevented the team from clinching the first round.
On the following years, the retirement of many of Argentina's most experienced players, and the defection of many others to professional leagues (it should be mentioned that rugby is still an amateur sport in Argentina and UAR's regulations of the time prevented any player who played professionally to play for the national team) left Argentina with an inexperienced side.
This led to a disappointing performance in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups, albeit in the latter Argentina presented a really powerful forwards pack which was praised by the international media. Argentina's right prop, Patricio Noriega, and hooker, Federico Mendez, went to play to Australia and South Africa respectively, after their RWC performance. The former one even ended playing for Australia national rugby union team.
In 1999, a more experienced and somewhat underrated Argentina, made it for the first time to the World Cup quarterfinals, after a vibrant 28-24 win against Ireland. After this match, tests between Argentina and Ireland have become a classic.
Argentina missed out on progressing to the 2003 World Cup quarterfinals due to a one point loss to Ireland in a nailbiting game. It was noted that because of the fixture list, Argentina had to play four games in a fortnight, whereas Ireland had the same games in four weeks. It was suggested that Ireland, as a major nation would not accept similar fixture list, and this was unfair.
Since then they have shown good form, splitting a two-Test home series with Wales in June 2004; handing defending Six Nations champion France a 24-14 loss in November 2004 at Marseille, where France had never lost before; and, later in the same tour, losing 21-19 to Ireland on a last-minute drop goal. After returning to Argentina, the Pumas lost 39-7 to the visiting Springboks of South Africa; however, the Pumas were without 10 regular starters who had returned to their club teams in Europe.
Perhaps the Pumas' finest hour in recent years came on 23 May 2005 in Cardiff, when they played the British and Irish Lions in the Lions' sendoff match for their tour to New Zealand. The Pumas were forced to choose a side of second- and even third-choice players, as 25 players from their selection pool were unavailable due to club commitments. However, a Pumas performance widely hailed as inspired, combined with lackluster play by a mostly second-choice Lions side, put Argentina on the verge of one of the greatest upsets in recent rugby history. It took a Jonny Wilkinson penalty at the death—and arguably the decision by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson to allow eight minutes of added time at the end of the match—for the Lions to salvage a 25-25 draw and avoid a humiliating defeat.
Famous players
- Diego Albanese
- Lisandro Arbizu
- Felipe Contepomi
- Diego Dominguez (1966 - ) (a dual international, first for Argentina and then for Italy)
- Rolando Martin
- Patricio Noriega (1971 - ) (a dual international, first for Argentina and then for Australia)
- Agustín Pichot
- Hugo Porta
- Pedro Sporleder