The 1965 Argentina rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of 16 matches played by the Argentina national team in May and June 1965 in Rhodesia and South Africa.
That tour was meaningful and relevant for Argentine rugby as it saw the birth of the team's nickname (Pumas), which has identified the national team since, following the victory over the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park. That win was considered historic not only for the Argentine national team but for the sport in the country.[1][2]
The tour
Angel Guastella was one of the coaches of Argentina during the tour
In 1959, the Junior Springboks had toured to Argentina, where they played a series of friendly matches. The South Africans were impressed by the rugby environment in the country and their visit paved the way for the trip of the Argentine team.[3] As a result, in 1964 the South African Rugby Union sent an invitation to the UAR to send a representative team there. The SARU wanted a foreign team to play there with the purpose of spreading the practise of rugby in South Africa.[4]
South African Danie Craven served as adviser for the team to prepare the tour, while the SA Union sent Izak van Heerden to help the Argentine Rugby Union to prepare the tour and collaborate with coaches Alberto Camardón (main coach) and Angel Guastella (second coach).[citation needed]
I remember the first day of training at Gimnasia y Esgrima under a strong rain. In those times, trainings used to be cancelled when it rained. When (Izak) van Heerden came he didn't find any player on the field; We were in the bar, playing "truco". The guy ordered us to change our clothes immediately. There were two hours of tough training, with diverse crawl movements. He changed the method, with an unusually hard way of training. We trained double shifts, morning and night, and went to our respective jobs in the middle (...) It was extremely strict, but we saw the results at last
Aitor Otaño, captain of the team, about the training
The first two matches in South Africa were extremely hard for the Argentine squad, in disadvantage on the physical power and the tough play by their rivals. Nevertheless, Argentine players vowed themselves to change the history from then on. The "key game" of the tour was the match v. Southern Universities won by Argentina 22–6. The local media entitled "Argentina shattered the cradle of South African rugby" after that match.[1]
Nevertheless, Argentina's most relevant victory was against the Junior Springboks – the South African second national team– to whom they defeated 11–6 at Ellis Park. Argentina lineup for that match was Cazenave, Neri, Pascual, Rodríguez Jurado, España; Poggi, Etchegaray; Loyola, Silva, Scharenberg; Schmidt, Otaño; Foster, González del Solar y García Yáñez. The photo showing centre Marcelo Pascual diving to the rival ingoal became iconic for Argentine rugby.[5]
The Pumas nickname is the result of an error made by Carl Kohler, a journalist for the Die Transvaler newspaper in South Africa, while following the team during the tour. He tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. Kohler was aware that the Americas had pumas, and as he was under pressure to submit his article, made a guess and called them "the Pumas", instead of the actual jaguar (which original name in Argentina is "yaguareté" but he refused to use that word as he was unable to utter it correctly).[6]
The mistake stuck, and was eventually adopted by the Argentines themselves (although the UAR crest depicted a Jaguar until April 2023, when a stylized Puma figure started being used).[7]
Touring team
The Argentine squad was made up of 26 touring players:[8]
Complete list of matches played by Argentine in South Africa:[4] Test matches [note 1]
Some Pumas posing the match v Border C.D.Marcelo Pascual diving in the ingoal of the Junior Springboks on June 19, 1965. That match is considered the beginning of a new era for Argentine rugby
The tour is considered the birth of the modern "Pumas" because of the national team had not achieved great results until then.[1] The victory v the Junior Springboks was widely covered by the Argentine media and it is considered a turning point for the national team.[3]
In an interview for the 50th anniversary of the tour, Héctor Silva stated:
We went with the intention of showing Argentine rugby outside the country, but the media repercussion was more than expected. The tour made Argentine rugby be recognised at international level. After that, some teams started to invite us to play. Oxford-Cambridge, Gazelles, Wales, Scotland, Ireland... came to the country and that allowed us to show all we had made during the tour.[2]
About the first matches, Heriberto Handley said in the same interview:
We had never played that level, and they beat us up in the first matches. So we said, "know what? The story is over", and we started to play "hand-by-hand", and we beat them up.[2]
"Coco" Benzi added:
Some reasons to explain the success were the unified group we were inside and outside the field. All of us wanted to play always, but the player who was in the bench became the n° 1 fan of the team (...) 'Willie' McCormick dislocated his shoulder four times. And he played as prop! The rivals tried to get him out of the field, but he fixed his shoulder by himself and said "I'm ok, I'm ok".[2]
The Rugby Championship, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series (1996–2011), is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are traditionally the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a similar tournament in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Argentina national rugby union team represents the Argentine Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. Officially nicknamed Los Pumas, they play in sky blue and white jerseys. They are ranked 7th in the world by World Rugby, making them by some distance the highest-ranked nation in the Americas.
Rugby union in Argentina is a hugely popular team sport. The first rugby match played in the country dates back to 1873, as the game was introduced by the British. The Argentina national team, sometimes referred to as the Pumas, have competed at the Rugby World Cup, and are considered a tier one nation by the sport's governing body, World Rugby.
The South American XV is a rugby union team made up from the national rugby sides in the Sudamérica Rugby rugby federation.
Izak van Heerden was a South African rugby union coach, and player, remembered for his successes with the Argentina national team and the Natal Province team for his unconventional, fast-moving style. His tactical innovations have had lasting influence on the game of rugby.
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The 1965 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by then selection of the Unión de Rugby de Rosario that beat in the final the selection of URBA
Il 1966 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by selection of Buenos Aires beating in the final the selection of Tucumán
The 1967 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by selection of Buenos Aires beating in the final the selection of Rosario
The 1968 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by the selection of Buenos Aires that beat in the final the selection of Rosario
The 1969 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by the selection of Buenos Aires that beat in the final the selection of Cordoba.
The 1971 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby was won by the selection of Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires that beat in the final the selection of Unión de Rugby de Rosario
The Campeonato Argentino de Rugby 1959 was won by the selection of Buenos Aires Province ("Provincia") that beat in the final the selection of Capital.
The Campeonato Argentino de Rugby 1964 was won by the selection of Buenos Aires that beat in the final the selection of Rosario
Jerónimo de la Fuente is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for Top 14 club Perpignan and the Argentina national 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. Argentina gained recognition in 1965, when the team toured South Africa playing a series of friendly matches there. In that tour the national team was nicknamed Los Pumas, a name that became an identity mark for Argentina, remaining to present days.
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Junior Springboks 
