Argentina national rugby union team
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The Argentina national rugby union team (Spanish: Selección de rugby de Argentina) represents Argentina in men's international rugby union; it is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union (Spanish: Unión Argentina de Rugby). Nicknamed the Pumas (Los Pumas in Spanish), they play in sky blue and white jerseys. They are ranked 9th in the world by World Rugby, making them by some distance the highest-ranked nation in the Americas.
 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Los Pumas (The Pumas) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem | Puma | ||
| Union | Argentine Rugby Union | ||
| Head coach | Michael Cheika | ||
| Captain | Julián Montoya | ||
| Most caps | Agustín Creevy (104) | ||
| Top scorer | Nicolás Sánchez (886) | ||
| Top try scorer | José María Núñez Piossek (30) | ||
| Home stadium | Various | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 9 (as of 25 September 2023) | ||
| Highest | 3 (2008) | ||
| Lowest | 12 (2014) | ||
| First international | |||
 Argentina 3–28 British Isles  (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 12 June 1910) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Argentina 152–0 Paraguay  (Mendoza, Argentina; 1 May 2002) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 New Zealand 93–8 Argentina (Wellington, New Zealand; 21 June 1997) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 9 (First in 1987) | ||
| Best result | Third place (2007) | ||
| Tri Nations/Rugby Championship | |||
| Appearances | 12 | ||
| Best result | Runners-up (2020) | ||
| Website | uar.com.ar/los-pumas | ||
Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. Argentina has competed at every Rugby World Cup since the first tournament of 1987, and the country are considered by far the strongest team within the Americas, being undefeated against all but Canada, against whom they have suffered three losses.
The Pumas' impressive results since the 1999 World Cup have seen rugby's popularity in Argentina grow significantly. Argentina has achieved several upset victories, and are capable of regularly defeating Six Nations sides. In the 2007 Rugby World Cup Argentina were undefeated in their pool and reached the semi-finals for the first time; they were defeated by South Africa in the semi-finals, but followed up with a win over France to claim third place overall. By the end of the competition, the team had reached an all-time high of third in the World Rankings.
After their advances in competitiveness and performance during the 2000s, coupled with their location in the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina was the only tier 1 nation that had no regular competition.[1] Argentina officially joined The Rugby Championship on 23 November 2011.[2] In their first tournament in 2012, Argentina secured a 16–16 draw with The Springboks in only their second game.
The 2014 Rugby Championship saw the first Championship-match win for Argentina who defeated Australia 21–17.[3] 2015 proved to be a successful year for Argentine rugby, including their first ever win over South Africa in the Rugby Championship, and they reached another semi-final at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In the 2016 Rugby Championship, the Pumas again defeated the Springboks. Although winless during the 2017 Rugby Championship, the Pumas achieved two wins in their 2018 campaign, defeating both South Africa and Australia. On 14 November 2020, the Pumas beat New Zealand 25–15 to record their first win over the All Blacks, and on August 27, 2022, they defeated the All Blacks for the first time in New Zealand. The wins against New Zealand meant that Los Pumas had finally won a match against every major Rugby union team.