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.
Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long career in fifteen-a-side rugby at both club and national team levels. Nicknamed "The Wizard" by commentators, he is widely considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the game. A biography of Serevi titled Waisale Serevi: King of Sevens by Nick Darvenzi was published in 2018.
The Argentina national rugby union team represents Argentina in men's international competitions, The Argentine 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 World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport outside of the Summer Olympics.
Agustín Pichot is an Argentine retired rugby union player, formerly captain of the Argentine team and the English club Bristol. In addition to Bristol, he played for French sides Stade Français and Racing Métro after leaving Argentine team CASI from San Isidro in 1997. In 2011, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame. He was Vice-Chairman of World Rugby between 2016 and 2020.
Felipe Contepomi is an Argentine professional rugby coach who is currently the backs coach at Leinster Rugby. He was a rugby union footballer who played fly-half or centre; his last club was Club Newman, in the first division of the URBA championship. He was also a key player for Argentina, having played 15 years for the national team. His twin brother Manuel was also a Puma. In June 2015 he was appointed coach of Argentina XV. Contepomi was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in November 2017.
Ben Gollings is an English former rugby union player who most recently worked as a rugby coach for Fiji sevens team. Gollings is best known for his time with the England national rugby sevens team. He is the career leader in points scored on the World Rugby Sevens Series with 2,652 points.
The Fiji national rugby sevens team has competed in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Olympics. Fiji won the gold medal in the inaugural rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics in 2016 in Brazil, the country's first Olympic medal in any event, and repeated as Olympic champions in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, defeating New Zealand. Thus Fiji is the sole nation to have won mens Olympic gold in the sport. They are the only country in the world to have won the Sevens Treble, the three major achievements in Sevens. They have won multiple World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
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 Argentina national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, and, beginning in 2016, in the Summer Olympics.
Taliesin Selley is a Welsh former rugby union footballer, who played either at centre or on the wing.
Agustín Creevy is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks and the Argentina national team.
In June 2012, France toured Argentina to play two Tests against the Pumas. The French tour was one in a series of tours by northern teams to be hosted by southern hemisphere nations.
Pablo Nicolás Matera is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Japan Rugby League One club Mie Honda Heat and the Argentina national team.
Tomás Lavanini is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for Top 14 club Clermont and the Argentina national team.
Matías Alemanno is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for Premiership Rugby club Gloucester and the Argentina national team.
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.
Javier Ortega Desio is an Argentine rugby union player who plays as a loose forward for the Argentine Super Rugby side Jaguares, and the Argentina national rugby union team.
Matías Moroni is an Argentine professional rugby union player who plays as a centre for Premiership Rugby club Newcastle Falcons 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.
