Argentina national rugby union 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. Argentina has taken part in all the Rugby World Cups since the first edition in 1987, their best performance being the third place achieved in 2007. Argentina followed their growing competitiveness in the Rugby Championship with a strong showing in the 2015 World Cup, reaching the semi-finals for the second time. The national side also plays the Rugby Championship since the 2012 edition, after joining the competition
Argentina national rugby union team Club, where the first rugby match in Argentine had been played). The animal was later replaced by a native to Argentine species, so the jaguar was chosen due to his "agility and courage", according to their words. The "Pumas" nickname is the result of an error made by Carl Kohler, a journalist for the then "Die Transvaler" newspaper in South Africa, while following the team during their first overseas tour ever – to Southern Africa in 1965. He tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as "All Blacks", "Springboks", and "Wallabies".