Chris Rattue of the New Zealand Herald reveals 10 things you may not have known about Argentine rugby.
1. Rugby was brought to Argentina by British railway workers and the game kicked off in the 1870s. There are more than 500 clubs and 100,000 players.
2. Argentina's international debut was against a touring British combination in 1910, when they were heavily beaten in a game at Belgrano. Their first win came in 1936, on tour in Chile.
3. A watershed moment was a victory over the Junior Springboks in 1965, the first win over a team representing a rugby superpower. The winning try by Marcelo Pascual is celebrated as the turning point in the Pumas' history.
4. This tour led to the Argentine team being named the Pumas, in error. A local journalist mistakenly thought the team's symbol was a puma, when it was in fact a jaguar.
5. Argentina's greatest player Hugo Porta turned down approaches by football clubs including Boca Juniors (whose famous players include Diego Maradona). Porta's father tried hard to stop him playing rugby. "Rugby teaches people about life and themselves," Porta has said, explaining his decision in football mad Argentina.
6. The famous 1972 Andes flight disaster occurred in Argentine territory. The Chile-bound Uruguayan plane, whose 45 passengers included a Montevideo rugby team, crashed into the snow forcing survivors to eat dead passengers as they waited over two months to be rescued.
7. Argentina's best World Cup finish was an impressive third in 2007, when they thrashed France in the bronze medal playoff in Paris.
8. Rugby has remained amateur and Argentina's 23 provinces even got a vote to keep it that way. This has forced the top players overseas but they will have a Super team to play for from 2016. A second XV named the Jaguars has played international opposition. Another centrally contracted team - the Pampas XV -- competed in South Africa's second tier Vodacom Cup and Pacific Rugby Cup.
9. The awarding of the 2011 World Cup hosting rights to New Zealand led to friction. Mario Ledesma, the players union representative, claimed Argentina backed New Zealand's bid in return for inclusion in Sanzar competitions, something which was not immediately forthcoming. The NZRU strongly denied any deal was made.
10. The Pumas' rating of 12 is their worst since the word ranking system was introduced in 2003. Their highest rank was third, in 2007/08.
- By Chris Rattue
