History of the Argentina national rugby union team Scotland lost the first test in 1968, but won a close second test two weeks later. The first trip of the Argentina national rugby team to the other side of the Atlantic was to Rhodesia and South Africa in 1965. The team acquired the nickname "Pumas", from a local journalist of "The Weekly Farers" after their first tour match, a defeat on 8 May by Rhodesia in Salisbury 17–12. The journalist mistook the animal that appeared on the UAR emblem (a "yaguareté") for a puma, probably because it was an unknown species in South Africa. Nevertheless, the nickname has remained
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".