ARGENTINA ON THE RWC STAGE

Rugby World Cup semi-finalists in 2007 and 2015, Argentina find themselves in the third band of seeds for the next tournament in Japan after dropping out of the world’s top eight ranked nations.

In terms of the opposition, they won’t have had it so tough since they drew host nation France and Ireland at RWC 2007 – a ground-breaking tournament for Los Pumas.

When Argentina defeated Les Bleus in the opening match, not only did it rock the proud home nation to its core, the ripple effect made the rest of the rugby world sit up and take note that Los Pumas were a force to be reckoned with.

Back home in Argentina, the exploits of Marcelo Loffreda’s outstanding side kept football off the back pages, as they went on to defeat Georgia, Namibia and Ireland and storm into the quarter-finals unbeaten.

With their inspirational captain Agustín Pichot in a stellar backline alongside Felipe Contepomi and the multi-talented Juan Martín Hernández, augmented by an experienced pack of forwards, Argentina captured the hearts and minds of their countrymen and women to an extent that El Superclassico, the Buenos Aires football derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate, was rescheduled to avoid clashing with their quarter-final against Scotland.

Los Pumas duly defeated the Scots before succumbing 37-13 to eventual champions South Africa in Paris. But after defeating France for a second time to claim the bronze medal, Pichot and co returned home as heroes after making an irrefutable case for Argentina’s eventual admission into a regular international tournament. 

Argentina are now mainstays of The Rugby Championship, Los Jaguares compete in Super Rugby, and Pichot is Vice-Chairman of World Rugby. Had they not done so well in 2007, and then again in 2015, who knows how different their history could have been.

As remarkable as their recent performances have been, it’s fair to say that their early Rugby World Cup performances were largely underwhelming.

Los Pumas were beaten 28-9 by Fiji in their first-ever Rugby World Cup match and went out of the tournament after losing heavily to the All Blacks. They did have the consolation of beating Italy 25-16 – a game in which their legendary fly-half and captain Hugo Porta kicked five penalties – but that would prove to be Argentina’s lone success in the first three World Cups.

At Rugby World Cup 1991, Argentina proved no match for eventual winners Australia, losing 32-19 at Stradey Park in Llanelli, before bowing out following further disappointing defeats to Wales and the mercurial men of Western Samoa.

They were beaten again by Western Samoa at RWC 1995, but the margin was small and further narrow defeats at the hands of England and Italy pointed to better times ahead as forwards like prop Patricio Noriega and Federico Méndez came to the fore.

Los Pumas were far better organised by the time RWC 1999 came around and, despite losing the opening match to host nation Wales (23-18) at the Millennium Stadium, they beat Samoa and Japan to earn a quarter-final play-off against Ireland, whom they defeated 28-24 to set-up a last eight meeting with France.

They lost to the eventual runners-up 47-26, but fly-half Gonzalo Quesada finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 102 points and the core of the 2007 side – Pichot, Contepomi, Ledesma and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe – had begun to make their mark.

Four matches in a fortnight made for a tough RWC 2003 experience, defeats to Australia and Ireland bookending comfortable wins over Namibia and Romania. 

RWC Re:LIVE - Imhoff doubles Argentina lead
Juan Imhoff exploited huge gaps in the Ireland defence and score Argentina's second try as the Pumas raced into a 14-0 lead. Rugby World Cup 2015

The line on the graph has been an upward one since then, however, and after their stunning success in 2007, Argentina continued their progress at RWC 2011 in New Zealand, winning three of their four Pool B matches against Romania, Scotland and Georgia before bowing out against the hosts and eventual winners New Zealand, 33-10, in the quarter-finals.

New Zealand were their first opponents at England 2015, Los Pumas’ fans making their voices heard – as they did throughout the tournament – at a packed Wembley Stadium. They had plenty to cheer about too, as their team led by four points at the interval to raise hopes of a first-ever win over the All Blacks at the 21st attempt. But a final-quarter surge from the world champions saw them score tries through Aaron Smith and Sam Cane to win 25-16. 

Playing an adventurous brand of rugby under coach Daniel Hourcade, Argentina racked up big wins over Georgia (54-9), Tonga (45-16) and Namibia (64-19) on their way to a quarter-final meeting with Ireland. Even footballing legend Diego Maradona joined in the fun after the Tonga game, entertaining the Argentinian players with a victory dance in the dressing room. 

Playing with supreme confidence and smiles on their faces, Argentina’s players produced a stunning display of running rugby to dismantle the Irish at the Millennium Stadium, the ever-dangerous Juan Imhoff bagging a brace of tries in a 43-20 win every bit as one-sided as the scoreline suggests.
Australia had the measure of their attack in the semi-final though, restricting Argentina to five Nicolás Sánchez penalties in a 29-15 win that featured a hat-trick from Adam Ashley-Cooper. 

A second bronze medal then escaped them following a 24-13 loss to South Africa in the bronze final, in which Juan Orlandi scored a late consolation.

RECORD BREAKERS                     

Juan Imhoff’s five tries at RWC 2015 was the best return from an Argentinian player in a single tournament and took his overall tally in RWC history to seven.

Fly-half Gonzalo Quesada finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 102 points in 1999, a tally that included a record 31 penalties.

HIGH POINT

Inspired by the brilliant play of Juan Martín Hernández, Argentina achieved their best-ever result in Rugby World Cup history in 2007. Los Pumas' third-place finish ultimately won them an invitation to join the SANZAR nations and compete in the newly-formed Rugby Championship in 2012.

LOW POINT

Argentina suffered an eight-game losing streak in the Rugby World Cup, stretching from 1 June, 1987 to 10 October, 1999. Samoa beat them twice during that period but the Pumas got the upper hand at the third time of asking to win 32-16 and break the losing cycle.

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

"If we have to play against New Zealand, I'll explain it like this: To win, their 15 players have to have a diarrhoea and we will have to put snipers around the field shooting at them and then we have to play the best match of our lives." – Argentina second-row Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe on a potential match-up against the All Blacks.

STATS-AMAZING

Argentina only need eight points to pass the 1,000-point milestone in Rugby World Cup history. It has taken them 37 matches to get to 992.

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