History of the Argentina national rugby union team History of the Argentina national rugby union team The History of the Argentina national rugby union team starts with the first international played by an Argentine side v. the British Islands 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. Argentina has taken part in all the Rugby World Cups since the first edition in 1987, being their best performance
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".