The Uruguayan rugby team stranded in the Andes for 72 days after a plane crash were finally able to play their match yesterday to mark the 40^th anniversary of the disaster.

The crash, made famous by a Hollywood film and a best-selling book, occurred in October 1972 when a Uruguayan air force plane that was transporting their team to Santiago for the game. Of the 45 passengers aboard, only 16 survived and were forced to feed on dead family members and friends who were frozen in the snow in order to avoid starvation until their rescue.

The Old Christians club yesterday played against the Old Grangonian Club, the former Chilean rugby team that they were due to play against when the accident happened. Pedro Algorta, a survivor, said yesterday “At about this time we were falling in the Andes. Today we’re here to win a game”.

During the anniversary ceremony military jets flew over the pitch with parachutists draped with Uruguayan and Chilean flags jumping from the planes. A memorial plaque with pictures of those who did not survive was also unveiled to much emotion from those lucky enough to escape the ordeal.

Another survivor Daniel Fernandez held the trophy that he would have been rewarded with for winning the original game, and said that the disaster “taught me that we set our own limits. […] if I had been told, ‘I’m going to leave you in a mountain 4,000 metres high, 20c below zero and in shirtsleeves’, I would have said: ‘I last 10 minutes’. Instead, I lasted 72 days.”

After more than two months trapped in the Andes, two of the group, Canessa and Fernando Parrado, left the crash site and trekked through icy and dangerous conditions for 10 days to find help, eventually finding Sergio Catalan, a livestock herder who rode to the nearest town to alert rescue services. Catalan took part in the memorial events yesterday, returning to meet the survivors.

Parrado says that after being rescued and escaping the ordeal, he has changed the way that he lives his life. He says: “Since then I have enjoyed fully, carefully but without fear. I tried to enjoy my friend, my dog, my passions, one second at a time.”

 

On Saturday in Rosario, Argentina’s rugby team, the Pumas concluded their first ever season competing in the rarefied heights of the Rugby Championship against the top three sides in the world with a narrow 25-19 loss to Australia.

Despite the defeat, which consigned them to the bottom of the table with four points, the Pumas have earned plaudits from their opponents and the world press alike for the quality of their play and the competitive spirit of their rugby over the two months of the tournament, vindicating those like former captain and now administrator, Agustín Pichot who had been lobbying for years for Argentina’s inclusion in the world’s toughest competition.

After the game Pumas’ coach, Santiago Phelan summed up his feelings on his side’s performances, saying: “It is difficult to take stock in the heat of the moment, but we lived an intense experience.” He added: “We have no shortage of things to improve upon, but it is extremely positive to have played on an equal footing with the best teams in the world. The team will get better, but there remains much to work on.”

Aside from the home match against world champions New Zealand in which they shipped 54 points, at no point in the competition were the Argentines outclassed. Indeed, they were heartbreakingly close to winning two of their matches, at home to South Africa in which they gained a historic draw, and away to Australia when they fell to a defeat by just two points after leading late on in both matches.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the competition for the Pumas was the successful integration of a new breed of home based players such as Leonardo Senatore, Martín Landajo, and Tomás Leonardi, proof positive that the High Performance Development Programme, which has seen promising young players perform in South Africa’s Vodacom Cup, is starting to bear fruit.

As Senatore says: “In this tournament we learned day by day, week after week, aside from the freak result against New Zealand, growing all the time. We could make mistakes, but we tried hard to correct them and grew both on and off the pitch, leaving with an incredible experience and I hope that each year Argentine rugby grows a little more.”

Argentina began their inaugural Rugby Championship adventure in the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town’s Newlands stadium against South Africa. Able to welcome back their 2007 World Cup hero, Juan Martín Hernández at fly half after five injury-ravaged years, Argentina set about their task with relish, but they were always on the back foot as the Springboks took control of the game through tries from Zane Kirchner, Marcell Coetzee and Bryan Habana. Nevertheless the Pumas defended manfully to keep the score down to 27-6 and deny their opponents a bonus point.

For their first home game of the tournament in Mendoza’s Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, the Pumas recorded an historic first ever draw against South Africa having lost the previous 14 encounters against the Springboks. Santiago Fernández’ first half try helped Argentina to a deserved 13-3 lead at the interval, but in the second half Marcelo Bosch saw his kick charged down by François Steyn, who ran through to score for the South Africans who ended up levelling the game at 16-16.

The Pumas’ travels then took them to the ‘Windy City’ of Wellington for the first part of their Australasian double-header against New Zealand’s all-conquering All Blacks. Argentina showed that that they did not fear their illustrious opponents, having the temerity to lead until the 24th minute after Rodrigo Roncero’s try cancelled out Aron Cruden’s early penalty. Tries from Julian Savea and Cory Jane restored All Black superiority, but a mighty defensive performance restricted New Zealand to a very creditable 21-5 scoreline.

Buoyed by their continued progress, the Pumas nearly caused the shock of the tournament when they faced Australia at Skilled Park on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Two tries in two minutes early in the second half from Tomás Leonardi and Julio Farías Cabello saw Argentina race into a 13 point lead which they held until just ten minutes from the end before Pat McCabe and Digby Ioane scored late tries for the Wallabies to win 23-19 and break Argentine hearts.

In La Plata, Argentina welcomed the All Blacks as football was temporarily relegated from the back pages of the newspapers and rugby fever took hold. The febrile atmosphere in the stadium became even more delirious as a Martín Landajo try gave the Pumas the lead after eight minutes. It was not to last long as Ma’a Nonu started an New Zeland try-fest, to be followed by a hat-trick from Cory Jane, two from Julian Savea and a try from Aaron Smith as the All Blacks simply overwhelmed Argentina’s vaunted defence and power to a 15th consecutive test match win 54-15, Gonzalo Camacho’s try in the 47th minute doing little to put but the thinnest respectability on the scoreline for the Pumas.

Having come so close to causing an upset against the Wallabies on the Gold Coast, the Pumas fancied their chances of gaining their first Championship win in the return leg at Rosario’s imposing Gigante de Arroyito stadium, in front of a passionate partisan crowd. Despite veteran front row forward Rodrigo Roncero making an emotional international farewell in front of his home supporters, the fairy tale result failed to materialise as 20 points from the boot of Mike Harris and a second half Digby Ioane try earned the Australians a hard-fought 25-19 victory.

The next challenge for Phelan’s battle-hardened men is a European tour in November when they take on Six Nations champions Wales, France and Italy as they seek to maintain their top eight world ranking, important for securing their place among the second seeds when the pool draw for the 2015 World Cup is made on 3 December.

After five years of lobbying, Argentina finally made their bow in rugby’s premier annual international tournament on Saturday when they took on South Africa in the newly expanded Rugby Championship.

Whilst no-one was expecting an Argentine win on a cold afternoon in Cape Town, hopes were high that the Pumas could show themselves to be competitive in such exalted company. And so it proved as they put up a creditable performance in holding the Springboks to a modest 27-6 victory in front of 38,843 at Newlands.

It was South Africa who drew first blood with an early penalty from Morné Steyn, but the Pumas equalised when Juan Martín Hernández slotted home a penalty on 14 minutes when Zane Kirchner was penalised for holding onto the ball in the tackle after Hernández’ clever kick towards the South African 22.

Parity was short-lived as the Springboks scored the opening try of the game four minutes later as Kirchner atoned for his earlier error by crossing over after Argentina had conceded a five-metre scrum and free-kick, with Steyn adding the extra two points from the conversion.

Steyn added a further penalty in the 24th minute, to give South Africa a 13-3 lead, as repeated Argentine infringements around the breakdown continually handed their hosts the advantage, with referee Steve Evans threatening to send the next offender to the sin bin.

Three minutes later the Springboks further extended their lead after Marcell Coetzee peeled off the back of a rolling maul to score a try in the right-hand corner which was converted once more by Steyn to put the home side 20-3 ahead.

Within two minutes Hernández reduced the arrears after the Springboks were penalised for offside, and with no further scoring the sides went into the half-time break with the score at 20-6.

After a stern lecture from coach, Santiago Phelan, the Pumas came out for the second half like men possessed, attacking the South Africans from the off. In the opening six minutes their pressure resulted in the Springboks conceding three penalties, and an opportunity to narrow the deficit.

Unfortunately for Argentina the chance was spurned as first Marcelo Bosch from 40 metres out, and then Hernández with two more eminently kickable penalties failed to bisect the posts with their kicks.

South Africa made the most of their reprieve to score a third try in the 56th minute when Bryan Habana collected Steyn’s perfectly flighted cross-field kick to score his 41st international try.

The rest of the match became an attritional stalemate as the Argentine defence, brilliantly marshalled by captain, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe successfully kept the Springboks at bay as they pressed for a fourth try which would have earned them a crucial bonus point.

Meanwhile, the South African rear-guard was equally effective as the Pumas were frustrated in their attempts to set free their pacy back-line of Horacio Agulla, Bosch, Gonzalo Camacho and Lucas González Amorosino.

In the final analysis the final score of 27-6 represented a promising debut in the Rugby Championship, as Argentina were by no means disgraced and showed that they could compete with the best in the world. In order to now progress Santiago Phelan and his men must work on cutting out the penalty infringements at the breakdown and capitalising on scoring opportunities when in possession in the opposition half.

As Phelan said after the match: “In rugby at the top level, each mistake is paid for in points. I am happy with the attitude of the players. They did some things well, and there are some aspects to work on.”

The show now moves on to Mendoza next Saturday where the Pumas will play the return match against South Africa before crossing the Pacific in September to take on world champions New Zealand and Australia, finally finishing in Argentina when New Zealand come to La Plata and Australia visit Rosario. It promises to be an exciting spring for Argentine rugby fans.

These are heady days for Argentine rugby. In October they reached the quarter final of the Rugby World Cup, losing only 33-10 to eventual champions New Zealand  after beating Scotland and giving England an almighty scare in the pool stage, and next year they will join New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the enlarged Rugby Championship, world rugby’s toughest annual competition.

One man who has been a key element of that World Cup success and in the rise of the Pumas to the world elite over the past decade is captain and outside-half, Felipe Contepomi. Aged 34, Contepomi was playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup after making his debut for Argentina against Chile as a 21-year-old in 1998.

After starting his career in Buenos Aires with Newman, Contepomi has subsequently played for some of the biggest clubs in Europe including Bristol, Leinster, London Irish, Toulon and current club Stade Français. His thrilling play with ball in hand and coolness under pressure as a goal-kicker have endeared him to fans wherever he has played, not least to those of the national team with whom he won the bronze medal at the 2007 Rugby World Cup where Argentina beat France to earn third-place in the tournament.

Contepomi’s talents do not extend solely to the rugby pitch, he is also a qualified orthopaedic surgeon and earlier this month has been appointed to the Athlete Panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The Argentine captain recently took time out of his busy schedule in Paris to talk to The Indy about the recent World Cup and his time playing for the Pumas.

AI: Felipe, how does Argentina’s achievement at this year’s Rugby World Cup compare with four years ago in France?

FC: It is not comparable you know, they were two different teams. In 2007 we arrived with a team that knew each other very well, we had a very good start of the World Cup when we beat France in the opening game and that put us into a good position for the quarter final to get something more acceptable. This one we arrived with not many people thinking we could do well, we had a very young team, an inexperienced team and I think we did extremely well in building up a team that showed great courage, we played some good rugby against England and Romania and scraped a victory against Scotland and played a good sixty minutes against the All Blacks, and so overall it was a good World Cup.

AI: You have had a long and successful career with the Pumas, some commentators have pointed to the win in Cardiff over Wales in Cardiff in 2001 as being pivotal to Argentina’s rise to the elite of world rugby. What do you think was the turning point and why?

FC: I think it was a huge victory for us because we played a great team and we had the chance to beat them for the first time ever in Wales, the following week we went on to Scotland and beat them at Murrayfield, and then the following week we only just lost against the All Blacks in Buenos Aires, so those November tests of 2001 were huge in giving us belief.

AI: For many years you played together for the Pumas with Agustín Pichot, what was the secret to your successful half-back partnership? Did it help playing together at Bristol?

FC: We’ve enjoyed playing together on the pitch and we both have a similar understanding of the game, therefore we understood each other really well. We’ve also become very good friends and obviously that made it easier as well.

AI: What was your strangest experience with the Pumas?

FC: I don’t know if it was the strangest, but one day to forget was when we lost to Australia in Buenos Aires in 2002, I had a shocker with my kicking boots.

AI: Your family has strong connections with the Pumas, what was it like playing alongside Manuel for Argentina?

FC: I’ve always said I’ve been very lucky in my rugby career, because playing for your country with a brother is nice, with friends is great, but with your twin brother and best friend all at once is unique. We’ve played many years and three Rugby World Cups together and those were my highlights of my career.

AI: Looking ahead to the Rugby Championship next year, what do you think it will do for the profile of rugby in Argentina to play the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks year in, year out?

FC: It will only help the rugby profile back home but also will help to develop rugby in Argentina and for the Pumas to become more competitive against the best.

AI: The development of young Argentine talent through PladAr and victory in the Vodacom Cup bodes well for the future of the Pumas. Who among the youngsters excites you, and who are the players of the next generation to look out for?

FC: It would be unfair for me to speak about specific players because I am still playing with them, but I think Argentinian rugby has been breeding really good players through the past few years and there are good ones coming along.

AI: Do you think Argentine players will gravitate towards Super 15 (Southern Hemisphere provincial competition) rugby in the future, rather than Europe as they do now?

FC: That’s still a dynamic that we will have to wait and see what happens in these transition years.

AI: During your time at Bristol and Leinster you completed your medical studies, do you plan to return to Argentina and practice as a doctor once your professional days are over?

FC: Yes, that’s the idea.

AI: That being the case, would you consider going back to play for your old Buenos Aires club, Newman?

FC: It’s hard to say it now. I’ve always said I’d love to finish playing in Newman, but I don’t want to make myself illusions, I’d rather wait and see what happens.

AI: Finally, as a fan of Independiente, would you like to play a test match for Argentina in their new Estadio Libertadores de América?

FC: Yes of course. I had the chance to play there last June against the French Barbarians and it was a great party, hopefully there will be more games there.

Argentina’s national team, the Pumas, had their place in the elite of world rugby confirmed with the launch of The Rugby Championship last week, an annual competition which will see them play world champions New Zealand as well as Australia and South Africa on a home and away basis from 2012.

Greg Peters, CEO of tournament organisers SANZAR told a press conference to mark the launch: “The invitation to Argentina to join the Championship is a defining moment for Southern Hemisphere rugby and significant for world rugby.”

He added: “The regular participation of Argentina at a higher level is long overdue and we are excited about their inclusion in The Rugby Championship. Playing in the Championship will have significant benefits for Argentine rugby as a whole and will bring new energy to the jewel in the crown of SANZAR. The Pumas, as they showed at the Rugby World Cup, play an exciting and different brand of rugby to the three other teams, which will definitely add a new dimension.”

President of the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR), Luis Castillo, talked of his country’s pride at inclusion in the tournament, saying: “The Argentine Rugby Union and Argentinian rugby community is proud to be part of this great tournament. We will work to maintain high standards in our rugby, with our ultimate goal being to keep generating resources for the development of rugby at the clubs.”

Argentina’s inclusion marks the culmination of four years of hard work by administrators of the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR) to gain admission to a top grade tournament following the country’s third place finish at the 2007 World Cup in France. The captain of that side, Agustín Pichot, was UAR’s SANZAR representative as Argentina lobbied to join the competition, and he could barely contain his joy at finally accomplishing his mission: “After many years of history and the hard work of many generations on and off the pitch, Argentinian rugby will be part of the toughest and most prestigious tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.”

In preparation, a development plan had been put in place after the last World Cup to ensure that Argentina continued to produce top international players and prove that the 2007 success was not a fluke. The benefits of that plan are already evident, with the Pampas XV club side winning the Vodacom Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Having established themselves in the top eight of world rugby over the past decade, admission to a competition of the calibre of The Rugby Championship gives the Pumas opportunity to push on and prove themselves to be a consistent top four side.

As UAR High Performance Chairman Manuel Galindo says: “For years Argentinian rugby has been seeking to participate regularly in a tournament like this. Playing in The Rugby Championship makes us really proud and will compel us to work harder at what we are doing. We must celebrate being part of the tournament.”

It is not known at this stage where in Argentina the matches will be played. In previous years test matches have been played in provincial cities like Salta, Mendoza and Santa Fe, as well as Buenos Aires, but as the recent football Copa América showed, Argentina is not lacking in top class sports stadia. The impressive new ‘estadio único’, inaugurated in the city of La Plata in time for that tournament, is already being touted as a potential venue. A final decision will be made later in the year after a fact-finding visit by a SANZAR delegation in November.

Having put up a brave fight against New Zealand in the recent World Cup quarter-final one thing is sure, Argentine rugby fans are in for a treat from next winter as Richie McCaw and Co come over to their stadiums on a regular basis.

Trying telling the teenage members of Virreyes Rugby Club their sport is only for rich kids and you’re in for an uncomfortable time. Eighteen-year-old Paulo Barcelos, one of the club’s fierce young players, knows that you don’t need an expensive education or a big house to play rugby.

“There is a difference between us and other rugby clubs,” the player says. “We come from a different side of the city. But it is a side more of the heart. We know what it is to feel sacrifice and that will take us to another level when it comes to winning.”

Barcelos’s club – Virreyes Rugby – is the only one of its kind in Buenos Aires. It was created by a group of former players in 2002 to give children from poor and disadvantaged social backgrounds the chance to find out what the sport has to offer. Eight years later, the project is a roaring success with more than 400 players between the ages of 7 and 20 involved every week, a former Argentine national team (The Pumas) coach on board and fifteen players who have gone on to study at Buenos Aires University on scholarships crafted by the club.

This week marks a coming of age for the Virreyes project. It began to help young boys, not just with their rugby, but with their lives. This week the boys will grow up. On Saturday (May 8th) the project’s first group of players – now eighteen or nineteen years old – will play their first competitive league match against fully grown men in Buenos Aires senior rugby leagues.

Club president, and founding member, Carlos Ramallo, 51, remembers just how far the boys have come: “Back when we started the children thought rugby was just for the upper classes. Now they know it’s a sport for them too.”

Ramallo, who once played for one of the city’s top rugby clubs SIC, says Saturday will be a big day for everyone involved in the club: “It’s the moment we have all been waiting for. We are a club that has grown up in a different way to all the others. I think we will be more nervous than all of the players when they start the match.”

Player Alan Barboza, 17, is confident but realistic: “We will be better than average. [At the end of the season] We will finish above the half way mark. We have a former Pumas coach [Rodolfo O’Reilly, who the players call el papa de rugby] and there is no other team in our league that has that.”

Barboza is fiercely proud of his team. I ask him if one day he would like to play for one of Argentina’s top teams, or even in Europe where the sports professional status can earn players a fantastic income by local standards. Barboza’s answer is blunt: “I play rugby here. I wouldn’t want to play for another club. I wouldn’t want to leave here. This is my club.”

The players don’t have far to look to glimpse the other side of Argentine rugby. Only a stone’s throw from their front door lies Buenos Aires Rugby and Cricket Club, founded in 1864 and one of the city’s well known sporting institutions. When I visit a Virreyes training session this club’s set of floodlights blaze brightly into the night sky, while Virreyes’s offers only a weak, watery light. A quick glance around the neighbouring houses confirms that we are a world away from the leafy cobbled streets, and colonial buildings of San Isidro, the heart of rugby in Buenos Aires. A chat with the security guard says it all. “If it wasn’t for the rugby the kids around here would have nothing.”

So why rugby? Especially in Argentina, a country so crazy about football it created the church of Diego Maradona. Surely the boys would prefer to be kicking a normal shaped ball about the street, especially in this world cup year?

Paulo Barcelos, 18, shakes his head: “We love the spirit of the game. In this game you make friends for life. It may be rough but after the game we are all brothers.”

It’s certainly is tough. Before he starts training nineteen year old Botela Alcides leans over and shows me the scar where the doctors removed five stitches from his head. His wrist is busted too. In total, he tells me with a grin, he’s dealt with fifteen injuries since he started playing.

“I like them – they make me a stronger person. At first, my family didn’t like me playing. I arrived home with a huge swollen face and they asked me to quit. At first, they didn’t understand anything but now they do.”

The game can be tough on the emotions too, especially for the Virreyes players. Officially the club is keen to stress that the Buenos Aires rugby community has done everything it can to welcome Virreyes into the fold. However, on the field, when the adrenaline is pumping and tempers are frayed the darker side of Argentine rugby sometimes rears its head. A club like Virreyes is an easy target.

One of the players tells me the team has got used to racist taunts. “There is a lot of discrimination from some of the other teams. They will say things about the colour of our skin, or that we are negroes. At first, when we were younger, there were a lot fights. But now we are used to it. We just want to win on the pitch.”

Although the players are as proud, skilled and fierce as any other group of young athletes in the country, President Ramallo reminds me there is far more to Virreyes than simply winning on the pitch.

The club liaises closely with the boys’ school and, if they fail to show up, then they don’t get to play. A number of big money corporate sponsors, include chocolate maker Cadburys, help to provide additional classes in the afternoon to help the boys with their studies. A number of scholarships have helped some of the players go on to study engineering, graphic design amongst other subjects at University. A bright future – that without Virreyes Rugby – may simply have never existed.

“The rugby helps the boys with their studies. The boys love their rugby so it helps them to concentrate at school.”

Ramallo says they are not just trying to develop rugby players at Virreyes but fully grown adults will the skills, experience and values they will need to flourish in the wider world. Rugby, he says, is the perfect sport for the job.

“In football, if you’re not very skilled then you don’t play. It’s as simple as that. In rugby, there’s a place for everyone – short, fat skinny and tall. The physical condition is no important. Everyone can be involved.”

So in the days leading up to Virreyes first big competitive match, thoughts naturally turn to what’s next for the club, aside of course from a win this coming Saturday. Although Ramallo is realistic, no one involved is going to dampen any of the young player’s ambitions.

“We try to think about tomorrow, not the distant future. We want to take small steps but strong steps. We would love to see our first fifteen play against Argentina’s top clubs like CASI and SIC but that’s a dream. Then again, a Puma from Virreyes – why not?”

For more information on Virreyes Rugby Club, visit www.vrc.org.ar

Argentina’s rugby side, the Pumas, concluded their tour of Great Britain at the end of November on an upbeat note defeating Scotland 9-6 in Edinburgh with virtually the last kick of the game, having lost the first two tests to England and Wales.

Coach, Santiago Phelan, took a touring party combining experienced veterans of the 2007 World Cup led by captain, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, and nine home-based players. Crucially missing from the squad due to injury were three of Argentina’s truly world- class players; Juan Manuel Leguizamón, Felipe Contepomi and their talismanic fly-half, Juan-Martín Hernández.

The Pumas opened their tour against England at Twickenham, hoping to replicate their success of 2006. Argentina fielding six amateurs based at home gave a debut to Martín Rodríguez of the Atlético Rosario club, and it was he that assumed the goal-kicking duties in the absence of Contepomi and Hernández.

In a game marked by both sides kicking from deep and strewn with handling errors, Argentina were on the back foot for much of the game, losing five line-outs on their own throw (perhaps not surprising given they had only trained for one day together prior to the game).

However the Pumas’ defence held firm, ably marshalled by the unflappable Patricio Albacete, whilst Fernández Lobbe set a captain’s example by marauding forward whenever the opportunity arose. The sides went in level at 6-6 at half-time, Rodríguez trading penalties with the English fly-half, Jonny Wilkinson.

The second-half proceeded in a similarly monotonous way until with ten minutes to go an English attack finally broke Argentine resistance, with Matt Banahan crossing for the only try of the game.

This setback finally spurred Argentina’s attack into action as they laid siege to England’s try line, only to be denied by stout English defence and some harsh refereeing by the Welshman, Nigel Owens.

In the event the Pumas were left to rue three penalty misses by Rodríguez as England clung on for a 16-9 win. The sense of regret was summed up after the game by Phelan who said: “If I had the chance again, I would attack them more. We came close to drawing but, having watched the game again, it was a missed opportunity. We showed great pride in the jersey and we fought to the very end but I am not happy because the match was there for the winning and little things cost us.”

A week later in Cardiff, Argentina again struggled to assert themselves against a rampant Wales side. The Pumas found themselves on the back-foot as early as the quarter-hour mark when a cheeky Stephen Jones tap penalty caught the Argentine defence off-guard to scurry over the line to score the opening try.

Fernández Lobbe again led from the front taking the game back to the Welsh, but any Argentine advantage in the forwards was negated by loose-head prop, Rodrigo Roncero being repeatedly penalised by referee Clancy for collapsing the scrum.

After going into the break 13-3 up, Wales immediately set about increasing their advantage. Luke Charteris charged down Agustín Figueroa’s kick, and from the resultant break Shane Williams picked his way through the Argentine defence to score an exhilarating try.

As the game became more open in the second half, the Pumas brought themselves back into the match. A Jonathan Davies kick was charged down by Martín Rodríguez who picked up the loose ball to score Argentina’s first try of the tour, which he subsequently converted.

However any hopes of an Argentine comeback were soon dispelled as Shane Williams exploited the mass of empty space in front of him to score his second try of the game and set the seal on an emphatic 33-16 win for Wales.

For the final game against Scotland, Phelan made six changes from the team comprehensively outplayed by Wales. In came Ayerza, Vernet Basualdo, Carizza, Campos, Lalanne and Martín Aramburú, as the Pumas sought to restore wounded pride.

Scotland had the best of a turgid first period, leading 6-0 at half-time through two Phil Godman penalties. It was a different story in the second half as Argentina’s luck turned for the better. Nathan Hines was sent to the sin-bin for an unsightly spear tackle on Gonzalo Tiesi and Rodríguez halved the deficit with a 40 metre penalty before Argentina used the extra man to their advantage to level the score at 6-6.

With just three minutes left on the clock, Argentina worked themselves into a good field position which Rodríguez – arguably the find of the tour – exploited to the full to score a match winning drop goal.

With the 2011 World Cup fast appearing on the horizon (in which the Pumas will face both England and Scotland), and the much hoped for entry to the Tri-Nations due to take place in 2012, there was a lot of focus on how the new breed of Pumas would perform on this tour. Whilst it yielded few positives in terms of scoreline, Phelan will be heartened that some of his home-based players like Rodríguez acquitted themselves well, proving the effectiveness of Argentina’s new High Performance Programme.

After years of lobbying world rugby’s corridors of power, Argentina’s rugby authorities have finally got what they wanted, a place in the sport’s showpiece annual competition, the Tri-Nations.

In a move announced by the tournament’s governing body SANZAR on 14 September, Argentina’s national side – The Pumas – will join the world’s top three sides, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in a newly expanded Four Nations competition from 2012.

Confirming Argentina’s invitation, SANZAR CEO, Andy Marinos said: “To have the Pumas, third at Rugby World Cup 2007 and currently ranked sixth in the world, join with the three top ranked international teams in world rugby will be exciting for fans, players, sponsors and broadcasters across our four countries and beyond.”

He added: “They play a different style to the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies and their inclusion will see the Tri-Nations evolve to be a truly Southern Hemisphere Championship.”

The reaction of the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) was naturally one of delight. UAR president, Porfirio Carreras told a packed press conference: “This is a momentous time for rugby in Argentina and I would like to thank my board and everyone who supported us to reach this point. We are very much looking forward to playing in the best competition in world rugby in 2012 alongside our partners in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.”

Meanwhile the sport’s governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB) have also given a warm welcome to the news which marks the culmination of a process they instigated through the 2007 Woking Accord.

IRB Chairman, Bernard Lapasset said: “The IRB welcomes the news that SANZAR has invited Argentina to join a new Four Nations from 2012. A key recommendation of the Woking Forum was to prioritise finding a solution that would lead to Argentina’s integration into an annual tournament structure. Today’s announcement is extremely exciting for the Unión Argentina de Rugby and rugby fans around the world.”

However there are strings attached to SANZAR’s invitation. Argentina’s participation is contingent upon the Pumas securing the availability of their best players for the tournament. At present the majority of their squad play their club rugby in Europe, particularly in the lucrative Top 14 French league, but the European season would overlap with the proposed timing of the tournament which is due to run from August to October.

However all parties concerned are hopeful that any problems over the release of players can be overcome. Ricardo García Fernández, president of the UAR’s High Level Performance Board, says: “With those that are in Europe we have already been talking about this invitation, and we have worked with the French Rugby Federation and the French League and with most of the clubs that have our players about making them available for the national side in the Tri-Nations window…All the parties are involved, such as the clubs, players, ourselves, the Federation and the League. They are all willing and they see this as something very positive for rugby.”

However, there are signs that in future Argentine players will instead start to ply their trade in the southern hemisphere rather than seek their fortunes in Europe, thus avoiding club versus country disputes.

It is a theme taken up by García Hernández who said: “SANZAR are going to open up their 15 (provincial) franchises and invite our players to be a part of this, a road already followed by Juan Martín Hernández who has joined Natal Sharks in South Africa. This will allow our players to play in the same hemispheric rugby calendar .”

With an IRB investment of US$2 million per year, Argentina has worked hard to develop rugby in the country in recent years, particularly with its High Level Performance Academy which has borne fruit in the progress of the Sevens, the Jaguars (Argentina’s development XV) and junior sides, all designed to bring on the next generation of Pumas. Inclusion to the Four Nations from 2012 could be just the impetus to confirm Argentina as a world class rugby nation and show that the 2007 World Cup was not a flash in the pan.

As Agustín Pichot, UAR High Performance Board member and captain of the 2007 bronze medal winning side, says: “We are delighted to now get the chance to become a great rugby nation with the chance to play top level international rugby on an annual basis. This exciting development will be vital to growing the game across Argentina and South America. This is a historic moment and everyone in Argentina should be proud.”

After the senior side’s impressive showing at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, this June it was the turn of Argentina’s Under-20s – known as Los Pumitas (little pumas) – to strut their stuff on the international stage at the Junior World Championship in Wales.

The tournament gave the Argentines the opportunity to gauge the development of their youngsters against their peers as they were pitted against the reigning Under-19 World Champions, New Zealand, Ireland and Tonga in their first phase group with only the winners progressing to the semi-finals.

With just a week’s preparation the Argentine squad, coached by Guillermo Payer and comprising only home-based amateur players, opened up in Cardiff against Ireland.

From the off the Pumitas showed their appetite for the physical challenge and forward confrontation for which Argentine rugby is renowned. Initially their enterprise went unrewarded as they were repeatedly penalised for their overzealousness at the breakdown, however as the Argentines gained their composure and gradually won the forward war of attrition, they were able to start releasing their exciting back division. A break by the Pumita midfield allowed full-back, Joaquin Tucullet to offload to winger Diego Palma to cross for the opening try.

A Benjamín Madero penalty extended Argentine advantage to ten points before three penalties from Irish fly-half, Martin Dufficy reduced the arrears and ensured Argentina were in for a nervous last half hour. Despite enjoying less possession than their opponents, the Pumitas displayed more guile and invention with ball in hand, particularly the half-back pairing of Madero and Martín Landajo. They were duly rewarded with ten minutes to go when centre, Juan Pablo Estelles intercepted a wayward Irish pass to run half the length of the pitch and score a try to seal an impressive 17-9 win.

Second up for Argentina were Tonga who had given favourites, New Zealand an almighty scare in the first half of their opening game. The powerfully built Polynesians were an even match for the Pumita pack in an extremely physical game, but the superior skill of the Argentine forwards provided a platform for their backs to perform.

A forward drive on the quarter hour mark enabled Argentina to gain field position and move the ball wide for winger and captain for the day, Belisario Agulla to cross in the corner. Tonga struck back ten minutes later before a brilliant solo break by the impressive Landajo restored Argentine superiority.

In the second half after successfully defending a sustained period of Tongan pressure, Argentina pulled away after an exquisite grubber kick from Landajo split the Tongan defence for Estelles to score. Victory was crowned with a try in the corner by Madero, as the Pumitas won a bruising encounter 30-10 and set up a semi-final eliminator with New Zealand.

The final group game gave the Argentine youngsters their biggest test and a real sense of their place in the world rankings as they came up against a professional outfit boasting three members of the Super 14 winning side. Sean Maitland, Kade Poki and Nasi Manu having arrived at the competition fresh from Canterbury Crusaders’ final win over New South Wales Waratahs, a huge elevation in standard from the URBA tournament in Buenos Aires which most of the Argentines had been involved in.

As the teams lined up, the Pumitas were certainly not overawed by their more illustrious oppoenents as the Junior All Blacks performed their traditional Haka.

For the first 25 minutes the Argentine defence held firm as their forward back matched their New Zealand counterparts. However the superior skill and fitness of the Junior All Blacks began to tell as Joe Hill broke the Argentine line to put New Zealand in front. A further try by Sam Whitelocke meant that New Zealand went in at half-time with a 15-0 lead.

The second half was an altogether different matter. New Zealand repeatedly turned over Argentine ball, setting free their back division – ably directed by Man of the Match, Daniel Kirkpatrick – to created carnage in the Pumita rearguard. The Argentine cause was not helped by half of their pack being forced out of the action through injury as the heavier New Zealand forwards made their physical presence felt. A succession of tries followed to give the scoreline an unbalanced look at full time of 60-0 in favour of the Junior All Blacks. It was one which was slightly unfair on Argentina who never ceased to try and play positive rugby in the face of overwhelmingly superior opponents and subsequent tournament winners.

After the game The Argentina Independent spoke to Argentine assistant coach and hero of the Pumas epic 1999 World Cup victory over Ireland, Diego Albanese. When asked for his thoughts on the game, Albanese said: “We said to the boys before the game, we knew that to play such a good side we would have to give 100%, we did that sometimes but we cannot blame their effort, they gave their all, we were beaten by a better team, by a professional outfit. These boys are all amateurs and they were up against 15 professional rugby players and you could see the difference on the pitch today. We asked them to enjoy and to learn, and I think they did that today.”

Asked whether the fact that New Zealand players had professional experience in the Super 14 and provincial competitions had proved crucial, Albanese replied: “The thing is you know that is the difference, why our senior team is doing so well, 90% of our players are playing in Europe and you get used to it. These guys are based in Argentina and suddenly they are playing New Zealand and everything is new to them.”

On whether some his young stars like Landajo and Madero might soon be tempted by professional offers from Europe, he opined: “I hope not, well they are too young I think, these boys need to finish their studies. It is not for me to decide, it is up to them but I think they can play a couple of years in Argentina and then come to Europe.” 

In the ensuing matches to finalise the minor placings, the Pumitas carrying numerous injuries went down 30-6 to France and 30-10 to Samoa as they failed to recapture their earlier verve. However on the balance of the whole competition, the Pumitas emerged with enormous credit and showed that there is plenty of talent in the wings ready to replace the golden generation of 2007.

Three to watch

Martín Landajo (Club: CASI)

An inventive scrum-half straight out of the mould of Pumas’ legend, Agustín Pichot. He was at the heart of much of Argentina’s good work during the group stage when a dominant pack gave him plenty of ball to work with, earning the Man of the Match award against Ireland.

Benjamín Madero (Club: San Isidro)

A consistent goal-kicker, Madero displayed the tactical acumen of Felipe Contepomi combined with the ability to play off the cuff like Juan Martín Hernández. However like many of his colleagues, Madero struggled against the more savvy Junior All Blacks.

Francisco Panessi (Club: Jockey Club Córdoba)

The versatile back rower was instrumental to the success of the Pumita pack during the first phase. An important figure in the lineout, his ability in the breakdown helped turnover opposition ball regularly in the opening matches. Voted the Man of the Match against Tonga.

It was all supposed to be so easy. As Six Nations champions and tournament hosts, France were expected to open the Rugby World Cup against Argentina with a win that would set them on the road to being crowned world champions. However the Argentines, nicknamed the Pumas, failed to read the script.

On a balmy September evening in the Parisian suburb of St Denis, 80,000 French supporters gathered in the Stade de France to see their rugby side emulate the heroics of their footballing cousins in the same stadium nine years earlier.

The body language of the two sides as they lined up for the anthems foretold the result of the drama to come. The French to a man looked pensive, the weight of a nation’s expectation hanging heavy on their shoulders. By contrast the Argentines appeared to visibly grow in stature, belting out their anthem, the pride in representing their nation etched in their faces, undaunted by the task ahead.

The game was kicked off by French fly-half, David Skrela, but immediately the Pumas put the hosts under pressure, harrying their opponents at every turn. The pressure turned into Argentine points on five minutes with a penalty which was coolly kicked in the face of 80,000 boos and whistles by Felipe Contepomi. 

Skrela restored parity a minute later with a penalty, but further kicks from the metronomic boot of Contepomi put Argentina 9-3 up as the astute kicking game of the Pumas’ outside-half, Juan Martín Hernández, forced the French backs into a series of errors.

On 27 minutes a French attack was intercepted and the powerful Argentine full back, Ignacio Corleto, ran half the length of the field to score the opening try. The crowd was stunned into silence realising they could be witnessing one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history. A further exchange of penalties meant Argentina led 17-9 at half time.

France were a different side after the break. Sébastien Chabal, the bearded ‘Beast of Sale’, added steel to their pack and Frédéric Michalak soon replaced the wretched Skrela, who looked helplessly to the heavens to ask the gods why they had forsaken him as he missed yet another kick at goal.

Despite all that the French could throw at them, the Pumas’ pack did not yield, straining every sinew of Argentine beef to prevent their opponents crossing their line. A penalty goal was all the French could muster in the second period and referee Tony Spreadbury’s final whistle signalled wild jubilation among the Argentine players and supporters.

After the game, Argentine captain Agustín Pichot spoke to The Argentina Independent. When asked how it felt to produce a performance like that for his country, he replied: “We are a very proud people and we take it as an honour, it is an honour for all of us.” I asked whether the win cleared Argentina’s way to the semi-finals but, reflecting the humility that has marked out this Pumas squad, he refused to look beyond the next game, saying: “Let’s beat Georgia on Tuesday.”

He was as good as his word as the Pumas recorded a professional 33-3 win in Lyon. The eastern Europeans put up dogged resistance in the first half to trail just 6-3 at the break. But Argentina soon moved clear when winger Lucas Borges scored the first of two tries on 47 minutes. Further tries came from Patricio Albacete and, in the last minute, number 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón to clinch an all-important bonus point for scoring four tries.

The next group game against Namibia gave coach Manuel Loffreda an opportunity to rest key players ahead of the group climax against Ireland. Again the Pumas took time to get into their stride, not crossing the Namibian line until Rodrigo Roncero scored on 24 minutes. But then the floodgates opened with Manuel Contepomi and Leguizamón going over to give the Argentines a 25-3 lead at the interval. Felipe Contepomi made sure of the bonus point shortly after the restart and they proceeded to run riot, scoring a further five tries before Australian referee Stuart Dickinson took mercy on Namibia, blowing for full-time with the score at 63-3.

Argentina went into the group decider knowing that the men from the Emerald Isle needed to score four tries and win by at least eight points to deny them a place in the quarter-finals. The tenacious defence that served the Pumas so well against France was again in evidence as was the kicking game, ably executed by Hernández, which kept the Irish pinned back inside their own 22.

By half-time Ireland had scored just one try through Brian O’Driscoll, while Argentina had crossed twice through wingers Borges and Horacio Agulla. For once, Felipe Contepomi’s goal kicking went awry but this was more than compensated by Hernández who struck two sublime drop goals to confirm his reputation as one of the stars of the tournament and give Argentina a 18-10 half-time lead.

The Pumas continued where they left off after the break with back rower Gonzalo Longo excelling in the loose while Contepomi rediscovered his kicking touch. But it was Hernández who sealed a 30-15 victory with his third drop goal, this time off his less-favoured left boot, to start further scenes of celebration amongst the Argentines.

Speaking of the enormity of the victory, Corleto said: “The win was very important because we’ve never won the four group matches – that’s why we are celebrating so much. We want to go on and we won’t be content with what we have done.”

In the quarter-final the Pumas overcame spirited resistance from Scotland to win 19-13 through a Longo try, a Hernández drop goal and 11 points from the boot of Felipe Contepomi. A victory that has set up a mouth watering clash with new tournament favourites, South Africa, in St Denis on Sunday for a place in the final, a side Argentina have never beaten.

However, confidence is sky-high in an Argentine camp that feel they have a point to prove against the top rugby nations who continue to exclude them from the Tri-Nations and Six Nations tournaments. Their sense of bronca is summed up by Loffreda who says: “We love the adversity. We need it and it makes us stronger.”

Whisper it quietly, but next weekend Buenos Aires could be looking forward to the biggest party since Diego Maradona paraded the football World Cup from the balcony of the Casa Rosada in 1986. Argentina dares to dream.