Argentina national rugby union team

Argentina

Union

Unión Argentina de Rugby

Nickname(s)

Los Pumas

Emblem(s)

Jaguar

Coach(es)

Daniel Hourcade

Captain(s)

Agustín Creevy

Most caps

Felipe Contepomi (87) ^[1]^[2]^[3]

Top scorer

Felipe Contepomi (651) ^[4]^[5]^[6]

Most tries

José María Núñez Piossek (30)

Team kit

Change kit

First international

Argentina 3 – 28 British Lions

(12 June 1910)

Largest win

Argentina 152–0 Paraguay

(1 May 2002)

Largest defeat

New Zealand 93 – 8 Argentina

(21 June 1997)

World Cup

Appearances

7/7 (First in 1987)

Best result

Third, 2007

"Los Pumas" redirects here. For the Mexican football team, see Club Universidad Nacional.

The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed Los Pumas, represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The team, which plays in sky blue and white jerseys, is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR, from the Spanish: Unión Argentina de Rugby).

Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. As of November 2014 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 inaugural tournament of 1987, and the country is undefeated against all but one American nation (Canada), against whom they have suffered three losses.

Although rugby union is nowhere near as popular as football in Argentina, Los 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 fully 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.

In March 2008 the team reached an all-time high of third in the IRB World Rankings.

After their advances in competitiveness and performance during the 2000s, coupled with their location in the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina was invited to play in the 2012 The Rugby Championship tournament against the national teams of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.^[7] The team managed only one draw in the 2012 Rugby Championship, but annual exposure to the standards and style of southern hemisphere international rugby is widely expected to see Argentina improve over coming seasons.

History

Early years

R. Cooper, former team captain in 1928.

The team that played British Lions when they toured on Argentina in 1927.

The first rugby union match in Argentina was played in 1873, the game having been brought to Argentina by British immigrants. In 1899, four clubs in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, joined together to form the River Plate Rugby Football Union. 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 Revolución de Mayo: the people of Argentina termed it the "Combined British", also known as "Great Britain XV". Argentina made its international debut against this team under the name "The River Plate Rugby Football Union" on 12 June. The match was played at Belgrano Athletic field and Argentina lost 28–3. The only try for the local team was scored by C.J. McCarthy of Belgrano Athletic. The Argentina line-up was: Saffery, MacCarthy, Gebbie, Bovet, Donnelly, Gribell, Hayman, Heatlie, Henrys, Heriot, Mold, Reid, Sawyer, Watson and Talbot, being all of them descendant of British immigrants.^[8]^[9]

In 1927 the British Isles Lions toured Argentina for second time, with the Lions winning all nine encounters; the tour did however become a financial success for Argentine rugby. Of the nine encounters, four tests were played, which Argentina lost by over 30 points in all. All the games took place in Buenos Aires. The important fact was that all the players on the field were Argentine-born.^[9]

Five years passed until another international team would return to Argentina, which would be the Junior Springboks in 1932, playing a two match series. Argentina lost both.

In 1936 the British Isles visited Argentina again, winning all ten of their matches and only conceding nine points in the whole tour. Only one test was played on the tour, with Argentina losing 23–0. The following month Argentina left the country to play their first away tests – against Chile in Valparaiso. Argentina won the first test (and their first game), 29–0. The second match was won by a similar margin. Two years later Argentina hosted Chile, which resulted in Argentina winning by 30 points.

Post war

Match played between Argentina and France rugby union teams in 1954.

At the first South American tournament, in 1951, Argentina accounted for Uruguay 62–0, Brazil 72–0 and win against Chile by 13–3.

At the second South American tournament, in 1958, Argentina accounted for Uruguay 50–3 and Peru 44–0, And finally Argentina emerged victorious against the hosts Chile in Santiago, by 14–0. In 1959 the Junior Springboks returned to Buenos Aires, winning both fixtures 14–6, and 20–5.

1960s: "Los Pumas"

Marcelo Pascual diving in the ingoal of Junior Springboaks in 1965.

In 1960, France visited Buenos Aires for a three match series against Argentina. The hosts still could not get their first win over the French, with France winning all three tests 37–3, 12–3 and 29–6. The following year Argentina again showed their dominance on a 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)

In the late 1960s the four home unions began tours to Argentina, and after Wales struggled in both Tests in Buenos Aires in 1967 it became clear that Argentina would be a difficult place to win a series. Scotland lost the first test in 1968, but won a close second test two weeks later.

The first trip of the Argentina national rugby team to the other side of the Atlantic was to Rhodesia and South Africa in 1965. The team acquired the nickname "Pumas", from a local journalist after their first tour match, a defeat on 8 May by Rhodesia in Salisbury 17–12. The book "Be Pumas" recalls the Wackley Farmer of Rhodesia magazine commenting on the emblem embroidered on the tourists' jerseys was like a puma – rather than a jaguar. After defeats by Salisbury and Northern Transvaal, the first win came against Western Transvaal, another against South West Africa Country Districts and finally against the Southern Universities. The Pumas scored a landmark win of 11–6 against the Junior Springboks. They were welcomed home to Buenos Aires by a huge crowd; the tour had harvested 11 victories, one draw and four defeats over two months. A match was then organised against the French champions Section Paloise, although the match was remembered for the uproar and misconduct of both teams rather than the Argentine victory. Then Oxford & Cambridge arrived, a team that the Pumas had never beaten. The first match finished level at 19–19 and the second saw the University students triumph 9–3. 1965 ended with a match against Chile, which the Pumas won 23–11.

In 1966, the Gazelles arrived, a kind of a Junior Springboks B team. The visitors took two victories 9–3 and 20–15. In September 1967, Argentina played in Buenos Aires in the South American Championship with victories over Uruguay 38–6 and Chile 18–0. Wales arrived in Buenos Aires in 1968 and for the first time in their history the Pumas were able to triumph in a series, winning the first match 9–5 and drawing the second 9–9. The first great decade in Argentine rugby came to a close with the arrival of Scotland in 1969. The first match saw a big Argentine victory 20–3, but in the second game the visitors narrowly won 6–3.

1970s and 1980s

The forward line of 1970: García Yáñez, Handley and Foster

Through the 1970s, Argentina confirmed its steady rise towards top-tier status under the influence of its first truly world-class player, fly-half Hugo Porta. During their European tour in 1976, the Pumas came tantalizingly close to a historic victory at Cardiff Arms Park over Wales, then the dominant force in the Northern Hemisphere. Only a Phil Bennett penalty on a foul by Gabriel Travaglini at the death allowed the Welsh to escape with a 20–19 victory. Two years later Argentina returned for their 1978 European tour and held a virtually full-strength England XV to a 13–13 draw before losing 6–19 to Italy. 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 an outstanding performance by Hugo Porta who scored all of Argentina's points.

Late 20th century

By the time the first Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, in 1987, Argentines were confident their national team would at least make it to quarter-finals. However, an unexpected loss to Fiji prevented the team from clinching the first round. Argentina won their first ever World Cup game when they defeated Italy in Christchurch.

Over the following years, the retirement of many of Argentina's most experienced players, and the defection of many others to professional leagues (rugby union is still an amateur sport in Argentina and UAR's regulations of the time prevented any player who played professionally from playing for the national team) left Argentina with an inexperienced side. This led to disappointing performances in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups, although in the latter Argentina presented a powerful pack which was praised by the international media. Argentina's tighthead prop, Patricio Noriega and hooker, Federico Méndez, went to play in Australia and South Africa respectively after their performance. Noriega even played for the Wallabies.

In 1999, a more experienced and somewhat under-rated Argentina made it to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. They had finished second in their group to Wales, and went onto the quarter-final play-offs. After a vibrant 28–24 win against Ireland, they were eliminated by France, 28–47, in the quarter-final. Gonzalo Quesada was the highest overall points scorer in the tournament with 102.

The new millennium

In April 2000, Marcelo Loffreda was appointed coach of Argentina.

Argentina participated in the 2003 World Cup, but missed out on progressing to the quarter-finals due to a 15–16 loss to Ireland. Because of the fixture list, Argentina had to play four games in a fortnight, whereas Ireland played the same number of games in four weeks.

In 2004 Argentina showed good form, splitting a midyear two-test home series with Wales. 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. After returning to Argentina, the Pumas lost 39–7 to the visiting Springboks; however, the Pumas were without 10 regular starters who had returned to their club teams in Europe.

The Pumas during their November 2006 win over England at Twickenham.

Perhaps one of the Pumas' best matches of the decade came on 23 May 2005, when they played the British and Irish Lions in Cardiff before the Lions' tour to New Zealand. The Pumas chose a side of second- and third-choice players as 25 players were unavailable due to club commitments. An inspired Pumas performance, combined with lacklustre play by a mostly second-choice Lions side, put Argentina on the verge of a great upset until a Jonny Wilkinson penalty at the death salvaged a 25–25 draw and the Lions avoided a humiliating defeat. 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 Pumas took a 20–16 lead into the half-time break, before fading the second half and losing 34–23. The following week, the Pumas defeated Scotland 23–19 Murrayfield for the Pumas fifth consecutive win over Scotland since 1990.

In the 2006 mid-year tests, Argentina swept Wales in a two-test tour for their first test series win over Wales. Argentina won the first test 27–25, in the first Argentina test in Patagonia. The second test at Vélez Sársfield saw the Pumas win 45–27, Argentina's largest win ever over Wales. Los Pumas next hosted the All Blacks at Vélez Sársfield. The All Blacks survived a Pumas assault in the final minutes to hang on to win 25–19 and to deny Argentina a huge upset. Argentina then defeated Chile 60–13 in Santiago and defeated Uruguay 26–0 at home to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The 2006 end-of-year Tests began with a bang for Los Pumas, as they handed England a 25–18 defeat at Twickenham, resulting in the fans booing the England team off the pitch.^[10] Further success followed for the Pumas, defeating Italy in Rome, and coming within one point of beating France in Paris.

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. However, The Sunday Times indicated that one of the biggest stumbling blocks was the UAR's commitment to amateurism.^[11] By August of that year, it became clear that the competition would not be expanded until the key SANZAR media contract with News Corporation expired in 2010. 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.^[12]

2007 Rugby World Cup

After the 2007 World Cup

In November 2007, in the wake of Argentina's World Cup run, the future status of Los Pumas was a key topic of discussion at an IRB conference on the future worldwide growth of the sport. The decisions made at the conference regarding Argentina were:^[18]

Starting in 2008, the Pumas will play more annual Tests, increasing from the previous six Tests per year to nine by 2010.
By 2010, the team will play four Tests in the June Test window, three in November, and two during the Six Nations window in February and March.
Between 2008 and 2010, Argentina will develop a professional structure within the country, with the goal of having the majority of Argentine professionals playing at home. Sometime around 2012, Los Pumas will then be "fully integrated into the Southern top-flight Rugby playing structure" (read "Tri Nations").

On 7 June 2008, the Pumas beat Scotland in Rosario, Argentina 21–15, thus maintaining their position as the 3rd highest ranked team in the IRB rankings.

In June 2009 the British media reported that Argentina were lobbying for the 2013 British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia to incorporate a series of games in Argentina. The proposed format would be three provincial games in Argentina followed by two international tests, followed by three provincial games in Australia followed by three international tests.^[19]

2011 Rugby World Cup

Santiago Phelan era

Felipe Contepomi, captain of Los Pumas during the 2011 RWC until 2012.

On March 13, 2008, Phelan was named as the coach of the Argentine rugby union team, filling the vacancy left by Marcelo Loffreda.^[20]

Since talking over in 2008, he has rarely earned success. Argentina failed to get a test series victory under Phelan, with a draw against Scotland in 2008 and England in 2009, before losing 2–0 to Scotland in 2010.

In 2012, Argentina again drew a test series against France, then losing 2–0 to England in 2013 including a record 32–3 defeat in the opening test, the biggest losing margin Argentina has had against England on home soil. He did lead Argentina to the occasional "upset", including a 9–6 win over Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh and a 26–12 win over Wales, who at the time where the Six Nations Grand Slam Champions, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

He led the Pumas to the 2011 Rugby World Cup knockout stage, but lost to hosts New Zealand in the Quarter Finals, with some promise towards their debut in The Rugby Championship.

2012 saw another major breakthrough for the Pumas, as they joined the The Rugby Championship (formerly known as the Tri Nations) against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This was the first time Argentina participated in an annual Tier 1 international competition.

Argentina played its first match of the 2012 Rugby Championship against South Africa in Cape Town on 18 August 2012, losing 27–6. Argentina quickly recovered one week later in Mendoza to achieve a 16–16 score against South Africa, its first draw in history against the Springboks. Argentina acquitted themselves well against Australia, losing 19–23 and then 19–25 to earn a losing bonus point in each match. Argentina also played respectably against the All Blacks in New Zealand, with Argentina keeping the score 5–6 at the half before losing 5–21. Despite ending bottom of the table with just 4 points and no wins in their inaugural season, Argentina proved hard to beat when home.

In the November 2012 test series, Argentina beat Wales at the Millenium Stadium, and lost against France and Ireland also on the road. In June 2013, the team lost both matches against England in Argentina, and beat tier 2 squad Georgia.

In 2013, Argentina began their second tournament with a record breaking 73–13 defeat by South Africa, which was South Africa's biggest winning margin over Argentina.^[21] In the reverse fixture at home in round 2, Argentina proved to be a formidable team, but their discipline proved costly with 5 penalties against them, and lost narrowlly to South Africa 17–22.

In round 3 they played New Zealand who was victorious in the match 28–13. In Round 4, they came close to beating Australia in Perth after losing the match 14–13. In the corresponding home fixture, Argentina lost 54–17 to Australia, a record losing margin against Australia at home.^[22] It was the second year in a row with Argentina finishing bottom of the table at the Rugby Championship, this time losing all matches.

On October 21, 2013, Phelan stepped down from his post as Los Pumas head coach with immediate effect, one year early from the end of his contract.^[23] Over the 45 matches that he coached in his 5-year tenure, he earned 13 wins, 31 defeats and 1 draw.

Daniel Hourcade era

Daniel Hourcade was hired as new Pumas head coach in October 2013. In November 2013, the Pumas were beaten by England and Wales in Twickenham and Cardiff, and later won against Italy in Rome. In the 2014 mid-year rugby union internationals, Argentina lost their games against Ireland and Scotland.

On 5 October 2014, Los Pumas achieved their first ever win in the Rugby Championship, defeating Australia 21–17 at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, their first win over Australia in 17 years. Despite that win, Argentina finished in last place in the Rugby Championship for the third consecutive year.

In the 2014 European end-of-year tests, Argentina lost to Scotland and won over Italy and France.

Colours, symbol and name

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 in a striped white and light blue jersey. That request was accepted and Argentina wore the striped uniform for the first time in its history.^[24]

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.^[25] 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.^[26]

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.^[24]

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).^[27]

Uniform evolution

1910–27 ¹

1927–2012

2012–present

Notes:

¹ The team alternated white and blue jerseys during that period.

Kit suppliers

Name	Start	End
Adidas	1998	Early 2000
Topper	Early 2000	2003 Rugby World Cup
Adidas	2004 mid year tests	2011 Rugby World Cup
Nike	2012 mid year tests	Current

Home grounds

Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, the stadium has also hosted a number of rugby matches between Argentina and the New Zealand All Blacks as part of the Rugby Championship, which Argentina joined in 2012.

The Pumas use a variety of stadiums when playing at home. One of the most frequently used for Tests is Vélez Sársfield in Buenos Aires. When Great Britain first came to Argentina in the tour of 1910, the first Argentina Test was played in Buenos Aires. During the mid year Tests in 2007, as well as Vélez Sársfield, Argentina played games at venues including Estadio B.G. Estanislao López in Santa Fe, Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, and Estadio 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.

Record

Overall

Argentina have won 210 of their 389 Test matches, a win record of 53.98%. 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.^[28] Defeating number three France, the first 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 31 against Uruguay, 28 against Chile, 16 against Paraguay and 11 against Brazil. In contrast, they have never beaten New Zealand or South Africa, having scored a draw each.

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by an Argentina national XV at test level up until 30 November 2014.^[29]

World Rugby Rankings
Top 25 Rankings as 27 April 2015^[30]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	93.70
2		South Africa	88.23
3		Ireland	85.76
4		England	85.40
5		Wales	84.07
6		Australia	82.95
7		France	79.74
8		Argentina	78.23
9		Samoa	75.39
10		Scotland	74.79
11		Japan	74.70
12		Fiji	74.57
13		Tonga	74.12
14		Georgia	72.16
15		Italy	71.85
16		United States	67.61
17		Canada	66.83
18		Romania	66.23
19		Russia	64.65
20		Uruguay	63.58
21		Spain	62.59
22	1	South Korea	58.38
23	1	Namibia	58.27
24	1	Portugal	57.40
25		Belgium	56.47
*Change from the previous week
Argentina's Historical Rankings

Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 27 April 2015^[30]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Australia	23	5	17	1	21.74%	363	610	−247
Brazil	13	13	0	0	100%	1054	47	+1007
British and Irish Lions	6	0	6	0	0%	6	211	−205
Canada	8	6	2	0	75%	262	137	+125
Chile	36	36	0	0	100%	1668	230	+1438
England ^{[N 1]}	20	4	14	2	20%	295	501	−206
Fiji	4	3	1	0	75%	130	96	+34
France	48	13	34	1	27.08%	754	1169	−415
Georgia	3	3	0	0	100%	87	28	+59
Ireland ^{[N 1]}	20	7	12	1	35%	308	367	−59
Italy	20	14	5	1	70%	496	344	+152
Japan	5	4	1	0	80%	205	139	+66
Junior Springboks ^{[N 1]}	5	1	4	0	20%	26	166	−90
Namibia	2	2	0	0	100%	130	17	+113
New Zealand ^{[N 1]}	24	0	23	1	0%	290	896	−606
Oxford and Cambridge ^{[N 1]}	8	2	5	1	25%	48	126	−78
Paraguay	16	16	0	0	100%	1311	58	+1253
Peru	1	1	0	0	100%	44	0	+44
Romania	8	8	0	0	100%	317	97	+220
Samoa	4	1	3	0	25%	82	111	−29
Scotland ^{[N 1]}	18	10	8	0	55.56%	302	330	−28
South Africa	19	0	18	1	0%	361	728	−367
South Africa Gazelles ^{[N 1]}	6	2	4	0	33.33%	60	71	−11
Spain	4	4	0	0	100%	149	75	+74
United States	8	8	0	0	100%	247	119	+128
Uruguay	38	38	0	0	100%	1639	370	+1269
Venezuela	1	1	0	0	100%	147	7	+140
Wales ^{[N 1]}	18	6	11	0	33.33%	387	462	−75
World XV ^{[N 1]}	2	2	0	0	100%	64	42	+22
Zimbabwe	1	0	1	0	0%	12	17	−5
Total	389	210	169	10	53.98	11244	7521	+3723

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Argentina has awarded international caps for several games against national XV selections, A and B teams, club sides and invitational teams.

Rugby World Cup

Main article: Argentina at the Rugby World Cup

Year	Round	Position	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against
1987 (16)	Pool (13th)	–	3	1	–	2	49	90
1991 (16)	Pool (14th)	–	3	–	–	3	38	83
1995 (16)	Pool (13th)	–	3	–	–	3	69	87
1999 (20)	Quarter Final (8th)	–	5	3	–	2	137	122
2003 (20)	Pool (9th)	–	4	2	–	2	140	57
2007 (20)	Third-Place	3	7	6	–	1	209	93
2011 (20)	Quarter Final (8th)	–	5	3	–	2	100	73
2015 (20)
Total	–	–	30	15	–	15	742	605

The Rugby Championship

Rugby Championship (2012 – )
Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points	Championships
Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference	Bonus points	Table points	Championships
New Zealand	18	16	1	1	543	272	+271	10	76	3
South Africa	18	10	1	7	457	336	+121	8	50	0
Australia	18	7	1	10	349	467	-118	2	32	0
Argentina	18	1	1	16	273	547	-274	7	13	0

Updated: 5 Oct 2014
Source: espnscrum.com

Players

Current squad

Argentina Jaguars 26-man squad for the two uncapped matches against the USA Selects side (United States 'A' side), as part of Argentina's and the United States 2015 Rugby World Cup warm-up matches.^[31]

Felipe Ezcurra was added to the squad on 13 April as an injury replacement for Javier Rojas.^[32]

Head Coach: Daniel Hourcade

Caps Updated: 22 April 2015
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of Birth (Age)	Caps	Club/province
Matías Cortese	Hooker	(1985-10-01) 1 October 1985	13	Unattached
Julián Montoya	Hooker	(1993-10-29) 29 October 1993	4	Newman
Santiago Iglesias Valdez	Hooker	(1993-05-22) 22 May 1993	9	Tucumán Universitario
Matías Díaz	Prop	(1993-03-16) 16 March 1993	8	Teqüe
Lucas Noguera Paz	Prop	(1993-05-10) 10 May 1993	11	Lince RC
Bruno Postiglioni	Prop	(1987-04-08) 8 April 1987	16	La Plata
Roberto Tejerizo	Prop	(1988-04-15) 15 April 1988	4	Santiago Lawn Tennis Club
Gerónimo Albertario	Lock	(1987-11-24) 24 November 1987	0	Pucará
Matías Alemanno	Lock	(1991-12-05) 5 December 1991	11	La Tablada
Guido Petti Pagadizábal	Lock	(1994-11-17) 17 November 1994	2	San Isidro
Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal	Flanker	(1988-12-29) 29 December 1988	4	Tucumán Universitario
Facundo Isa	Flanker	(1993-09-21) 21 September 1993	3	Santiago Lawn Tennis Club
Tomás Lezana	Flanker	(1994-02-16) 16 February 1994	1	Santiago Lawn Tennis Club
Pablo Matera	Flanker	(1993-07-18) 18 July 1993	13	Alumni
Javier Ortega Desio	Number 8	(1990-06-14) 14 June 1990	12	Paraná
Tomás Cubelli (vc)	Scrum-half	(1989-06-12) 12 June 1989	34	Belgrano
Felipe Ezcurra	Scrum-half	(1993-04-15) 15 April 1993	2	Hindú
Martín Landajo (vc)	Scrum-half	(1988-06-14) 14 June 1988	40	CASI
Santiago González Iglesias	Fly-half	(1988-06-16) 16 June 1988	12	Alumni
Gabriel Ascárate	Centre	(1987-10-20) 20 October 1987	14	Natación y Gimnasia
Jerónimo de la Fuente	Centre	(1991-02-24) 24 February 1991	9	Duendes
Matías Moroni	Centre	(1991-03-29) 29 March 1991	2	CUBA
Manuel Montero	Wing	(1991-11-20) 20 November 1991	20	Pucará
Matías Orlando	Wing	(1991-11-14) 14 November 1991	9	Huirapuca
Santiago Cordero	Fullback	(1993-12-06) 6 December 1993	7	Regatas
Ramiro Moyano	Fullback	(1990-05-28) 28 May 1990	6	Lince RC

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: Saturnino Racimo.
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 L. 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–: Daniel Hourcade

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]