1965 Argentina rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa

July 2023 Argentina los pumas 1965.jpg Official photo of the touring team Argentina 1965 Emilio Jutard Alberto Camardón Aitor Otaño Eduardo Poggi (95) Aitor Otaño Luis Loyola (7 each) 16 11 1 4 1 1 0 0 RSA 1928 Junior Springboks 1 1 0 0 The 1965 Argentina rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of 16 matches played by the Argentina national team in May and June 1965 in Rhodesia and South Africa. That tour was meaningful and relevant for Argentine rugby as it saw the birth of the team's nickname (Pumas), which has identified the national team since, following the victory over the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park. That win was considered historic not only for the Argentine national team but for the sport in the country.El día que nacieron Los Pumas, El GráficoPumas para siempre: a 50 años del triunfo sobre Junior Springboks by Alejo Miranda, La Nación, 19 Jun 2015 The tour thumb|upright|Angel Guastella was one of the coaches of Argentina during the tour In 1959, the Junior Springboks had toured to Argentina, where they played a series of friendly matches. The South Africans were impressed by the rugby environment in the country and their visit paved the way for the trip of the Argentine team.Hace 50 años nacían Los Pumas, Telam, 19 Jun 2015 As a result, in 1964 the South African Rugby Union sent an invitation to the UAR to send a representative team there. The SARU wanted a foreign team to play there with the purpose of spreading the practise of rugby in South Africa. South African Danie Craven served as adviser for the team to prepare the tour, while the SA Union sent Izak van Heerden to help the Argentine Rugby Union to prepare the tour and collaborate with coaches Alberto Camardón (main coach) and Angel Guastella (second coach).July 2023 The national team played a series of preparatory games before the tour, facing local clubs and provincial representatives such as Universitario (LP) Obras Sanitarias, Alumni, Newman, Córdoba RU, Rosario RU, Duendes and Old Georgian left 40% I remember the first day of training at Gimnasia y Esgrima under a strong rain. In those times, trainings used to be cancelled when it rained. When (Izak) van Heerden came he didn't find any player on the field; We were in the bar, playing "truco". The guy ordered us to change our clothes immediately. There were two hours of tough training, with diverse crawl movements. He changed the method, with an unusually hard way of training. We trained double shifts, morning and night, and went to our respective jobs in the middle (...) It was extremely strict, but we saw the results at last Aitor Otaño, captain of the team, about the training yes The first two matches in South Africa were extremely hard for the Argentine squad, in disadvantage on the physical power and the tough play by their rivals. Nevertheless, Argentine players vowed themselves to change the history from then on. The "key game" of the tour was the match v. Southern Universities won by Argentina 22–6. The local media entitled "Argentina shattered the cradle of South African rugby" after that match. Nevertheless, Argentina's most relevant victory was against the Junior Springboks – the South African second national team– to whom they defeated 11–6 at Ellis Park. Argentina lineup for that match was Cazenave, Neri, Pascual, Rodríguez Jurado, España; Poggi, Etchegaray; Loyola, Silva, Scharenberg; Schmidt, Otaño; Foster, González del Solar y García Yáñez. The photo showing centre Marcelo Pascual diving to the rival ingoal became iconic for Argentine rugby.El vuelo del Puma, El Gráfico The Pumas nickname is the result of an error made by Carl Kohler, a journalist for the Die Transvaler newspaper in South Africa, while following the team during the tour. He tried to devise a catchy nickname for the team similar to existing international team nicknames such as All Blacks, Springboks, and Wallabies. Kohler was aware that the Americas had pumas, and as he was under pressure to submit his article, made a guess and called them "the Pumas", instead of the actual jaguar (which original name in Argentina is "yaguareté" but he refused to use that word as he was unable to utter it correctly).Aquella confusión entre un yaguareté y un puma que modificó todo para siempre, Clarín, 29 May 2015 The mistake stuck, and was eventually adopted by the Argentines themselves (although the UAR crest depicted a Jaguar until April 2023, when a stylized Puma figure started being used).Nuestra nueva identidad at UAR, 17 Apr 2023 Touring team The Argentine squad was made up of 26 touring players:Emotivo homenaje a los Pumas de 1965, LaVoz.com, 2015 20em Walter Aniz Manuel Beccar Varela Juan Francisco Benzi Roberto Cazenave Jorge Dartiguelongue Eduardo España Adolfo Etchegaray Ronaldo Foster Luis García Yáñez Nicanor González del Solar Héctor Goti Luis Gradín Heriberto Handley José Luis Imhoff Guillermo Jiba Luis Loyola Guillermo Mc Cormick Enrico Neri Arturo Rodríguez Jurado Bernardo Otaño Marcelo Pascual Eduardo Poggi Héctor Silva Agustín Silveyra Eduardo Scharenberg Rodolfo Schmidt Match summary Complete list of matches played by Argentine in South Africa:Memoria y Balance 1965 on UAR website #ffff99 silver Test matches The match v. Junior Springboks was considered an official test only by the Argentine Rugby Union. note notest thumb|Some Pumas posing the match v Border C.D. thumb|Marcelo Pascual diving in the ingoal of the Junior Springboks on June 19, 1965. That match is considered the beginning of a new era for Argentine rugby # Date Rival Res. Score City 1 8 May ZIM 1964 RhodesiaRhodesia was an unrecognised state in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. note rhod lost 12–17 Salisbury 2 12 May Northern Transvaal lost 13–25 Petersburg 3 15 May Western Transvaal won 38–11 Potchefstroom 4 19 May South West Africa won 43–5 Windhoek 5 22 May Eastern Transvaal won 22–9 Ermelo 6 26 May Grigualand West won 32–12 Kimberley 7 29 May North Eastern District won 17–6 Aliwal North 8 1 Jun Border Country District draw 6–6 Queenstown 9 3 Jun Eastern Province won 27–6 Cradock 10 5 Jun South West Districts lost 0–3 Oudtshoorn 11 9 Jun Southern Universities won 22–6 Cape Town 12 12 Jun Boland won 20–12 Wellington 13 16 Jun Orange Free State won 17–14 Welkom 14 19 Jun RSA 1928 won 11–6 Johannesburg 15 23 Jun Natal Country District won 24–14 Durban 16 26 Jun South African Country Districts lost 11–31 Bloemfontein Notes note Totals Pld W D L PF PA 16 11 1 4 315 183 Match details m 01 8 May ZIM 1964 Rhodesia 17–12 ARG Otaño (2), Loyola, Neri Salisbury m 02 12 May Northern Transvaal 25–13 ARG González del Solar, Goti, Loyola Poggi (2) Pietersburg m 03 15 May Western Transvaal 11–38 ARG Goti (2), Gradín, Imhoff, Otaño, Silva Poggi (2) Poggi (2) Potchefstroom m 04 19 May South West Africa 5–43 ARG Goti (2), Neri, Otaño, Silva (3) Poggi (5) Windhoek m 05 22 May Eastern Transvaal 9–22 ARG Pascual (2), Benzi, Dartiguelongue, Imhoff, Silva Poggi Ermelo m 06 26 May Griqualand West 12–32 ARG Benzi (2), Otaño (2), Goti, McCormick Cazenave (4) Cazenave (2) Kimberley m 07 29 May North Eastern Districts 6–17 ARG Poggi (2), Loyola Cazenave Poggi Benzi Aliwal North m 08 1 Jun Border C.D. 6–6 ARG Cazenave Poggi Queenstown m 09 3 Jun Eastern Province 6–27 ARG Pascual (2), España, Gradín, Loyola Cazenave (3) Cazenave, Poggi Cradock m 10 5 Jun South Western Districts 3–0 ARG Pascual (2), España, Gradín, Loyola Cazenave (3) Cazenave, Poggi Oudtshoorn m 11 5 Jun Southern Universities 6–22 ARG Coti, Gradín, Neri, Rodríguez Jurado, Schmidt Poggi (2) Poggi Cape Town m 12 12 Jun Boland 12–20 ARG Otaño, Poggi Poggi Poggi (4) Wellington m 13 16 Jun Orange Free State 14–17 ARG Cazenave, España, Loyola Poggi Poggi (2) Welkom m 14 19 June RSA 1928 6–11 Report ARG Ellis Park, Johannesburg Pieter Robbertse 40,000 Du Preez (2) España Loyola Pascual Poggi Team details _collarwhite _2 white stripes 003388 003388 003388 003388 000000 Junior Springboks _sky_hoops _lightbluehoops _sky_hoops _hoops_sky FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF Argentina Dries Pretorius FB15FB Roberto Cazenave J. Serfontein W14W Enrico Neri B. Ackerman C13C Marcelo Pascual Johan van der SchyffC12C Arturo Rodríguez Jurado Alan WiggettW11W Eduardo España Hugh BladenFH10FH Eduardo Poggi Kid du PreezSH9SH Adolfo Etchegaray Koos ClaasenN88N8 Eduardo Scharemberg Louis SlabberF7F Héctor Silva Oupa du PiesanieF6F Raúl Loyola Brian IrvineL5L Rodolfo Schmidt E. Claassen L4L Aitor Otaño (capt.) W. Storm P3PRonnie Foster N.J.J. van Rensburg H2H Nicanor González del Solar R. Dercksen P1P Luis García Yáñez m 15 23 Jun Natal 14–24 ARG Benzi, Loyola, Poggi, Rodríguez Jurado Cazenave (3) Cazenave Durban m 16 26 Jun South African C.D. 31–11 ARG España, Pascual Poggi Poggi Bloemfontein Statistics Most matches Player Match. Eduardo Poggi 13 Aitor Otaño 13 Marcelo Pascual 13 Héctor Silva 13 Luis Loyola 12 Eduardo España 12 Luis García Yáñez 12 Roberto Cazenave 11 Ronaldo Foster 11 Top scorers Player Tries Conv. Drops Pen. Mark. Total pts. Eduardo Poggi 6 16 0 15 0 95 Roberto Cazenave 2 11 0 4 1 43 Aitor Otaño 7 0 0 0 0 21 Luis Loyola 7 0 0 0 0 21 Marcelo Pascual 6 0 0 0 0 18 Aftermath The tour is considered the birth of the modern "Pumas" because of the national team had not achieved great results until then. The victory v the Junior Springboks was widely covered by the Argentine media and it is considered a turning point for the national team. In an interview for the 50th anniversary of the tour, Héctor Silva stated: We went with the intention of showing Argentine rugby outside the country, but the media repercussion was more than expected. The tour made Argentine rugby be recognised at international level. After that, some teams started to invite us to play. Oxford-Cambridge, Gazelles, Wales, Scotland, Ireland... came to the country and that allowed us to show all we had made during the tour. About the first matches, Heriberto Handley said in the same interview: We had never played that level, and they beat us up in the first matches. So we said, "know what? The story is over", and we started to play "hand-by-hand", and we beat them up. "Coco" Benzi added: Some reasons to explain the success were the unified group we were inside and outside the field. All of us wanted to play always, but the player who was in the bench became the n° 1 fan of the team (...) 'Willie' McCormick dislocated his shoulder four times. And he played as prop! The rivals tried to get him out of the field, but he fixed his shoulder by himself and said "I'm ok, I'm ok". Bibliography Vivian Jenkins Vivian Jenkins Rothmans Rugby Yearbook 1979-80 1979 Queen Anne Press 0-354-09087-9 47–51 References Category:Argentina national rugby union team tours 1965 tour rugby 1965 1965 Category:Rugby union tours of Zimbabwe