European Union
All kind of International Rugby Events, like June Tours, Pacific cups and all others.
Argentina vs Scotland
Match scheduled:
Date: 19-06-2010
Time: 20:45 until 22:45
June Internationals
Watch live rugby TV
In 1960, France visited Buenos Aires for a three match series with Argentina. The hosts still could not get their first win over the French, with France winning all three tests 37-3, 12-3 and 29-6. The following year Argentina again showed their dominance on a continental level, winning the South American tournament held in Montevideo, by beating Brazil 60-0, Uruguay 36-3 and Chile 11-3. In 1964 a new version of the South American tournament was played in San Pablo and Argentina again demonstrated their dominance with victories over Uruguay 25-6, Brazil 30-5 and Chile 30-8.
Back in the late 1960s the four home unions began tours to Argentina, and after Wales struggled in both Tests in Buenos Aires in 1967 it soon became clear that Argentina would be a difficult place to win a series. Scotland became their next victims when the Pumas won the first test in 1968. The Scots won the second test two weeks later, but it was close.
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 after their first tour match, a defeat to Salisbury. The book "Be Pumas" recalls the Wackley Farmer of Rhodesia magazine commenting on the emblem embroidered on the tourists' jerseys was like a puma - rather than a jaguarete. After defeats to Salisbury and Northern Transvaal, the first win came against Western Transvaal, another against South West Africa Country Districts and finally against the Southern Universities. The Pumas' landmark win against the Junior Springboks, by 11-6. They were welcomed home to Buenos Aires by a huge crowd; the tour had harvested 11 victories, one draw and four defeats over two months.
A match was then organised against the French champions Section Paloise, although the match was remembered for the uproar and misconduct of both teams rather than the Argentine victory. Then Oxford & Cambridge arrived, a team that the Pumas had never beaten. The first match finished level at 19-19 and the second saw the University students triumph 9-3. 1965 ended with a match against Chile, which the Pumas won 23-11.
In 1966, the Gazelles arrived, a kind of a Junior Springboks B team. The visitors took two victories 9-3 and 20-15. In September 1967, Argentina played in Buenos Aires in the South American Championship with victories over Uruguay 38-6 and Chile 18-0. Wales arrived in Buenos Aires in 1968 and for the first time in their history the Pumas were able to triumph in a series, winning the first match 9-5 and drawing the second 9-9. The first great decade in Argentine rugby came to a close with the arrival of Scotland in 1969. The first match saw a big Argentine victory 20-3, but in the second game the visitors narrowly won 6-3.
Through the 1970s, Argentina confirmed its steady rise towards top-tier status under the impulse of its first truly world-class player, fly-half Hugo Porta. During their European tour in 1976, the Pumas came tantalizingly close to a grandiose victory at Cardiff Arms Park over Wales, then the dominant force in the Northern Hemisphere. Only a Phil Bennett penalty on a foul by Gabrielo Travaglini at the death allowed the Welsh to escape with a 20-19 victory. Two years later Argentina returned for their 1978 European tour and held a virtually full-strength England XV to a 13-13 draw before beating Italy 19-6.
The early 1980s also saw the formation of the South American Jaguars, a team dominated by Argentine players, which played eight matches against the Springboks including one win at Bloemfontein in 1982.
[edit] Late 20th century
From the late seventies to the early nineties, Argentina never lost the two matches of a series held in Buenos Aires, in a period that included victories against France, England, Australia and a 21-21 tie to the All Blacks, which is probably the most important result ever obtained by the Pumas, thanks to a terrific performance by Hugo Porta who scored all of Argentina's points.
By the time the first Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, in 1987, Argentines were confident its national team would at least make it to quarter-finals. However, an unexpected loss to Fiji prevented the team from clinching the first round. Argentina won their first ever World Cup game when they defeated Italy in Christchurch.
On the following years, the retirement of many of Argentina's most experienced players, and the defection of many others to professional leagues (it should be mentioned that rugby union is still an amateur sport in Argentina and UAR's regulations of the time prevented any player who played professionally from playing for the national team) left Argentina with an inexperienced side.
This led to disappointing performances in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups, albeit in the latter Argentina presented a powerful forward pack which was praised by the international media. Argentina's tighthead prop, Patricio Noriega and hooker, Federico Méndez, went to play in Australia and South Africa respectively after their performance. Noriega even ended up playing for the Wallabies.
In 1999, a more experienced and somewhat under-rated Argentina made it to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. They had finished second in their group to Wales, and went onto the quarter-final play-offs. After a vibrant 28-24 win against Ireland, they were eliminated by France, 28-47, in the quarter-final. Gonzalo Quesada was the highest overall points scorer in the tournament with 102.
[edit] The new millennium
In April 2000, Marcelo Loffreda was appointed coach of Argentina. Argentina missed out on progressing to the 2003 World Cup quarter-finals due to a 15-16 loss to Ireland in a nail-biting game. It was noted that because of the fixture list, Argentina had to play four games in a fortnight, whereas Ireland played the same number of games in four weeks. It was suggested that Ireland, as a major nation, would not accept a similar fixture list, and that this may have played a role in the outcome of the game.
Since then they have shown good form, splitting a two-test home series with Wales in June 2004; handing defending Six Nations champion France a 24-14 loss in November 2004 at Marseille, where France had never lost before; and, later in the same tour, losing 21-19 to Ireland on a last-minute drop goal. After returning to Argentina, the Pumas lost 39-7 to the visiting Springboks of South Africa; however, the Pumas were without 10 regular starters who had returned to their club teams in Europe.
Perhaps the one of the Pumas' best matches in recent years came on 23 May 2005 in Cardiff, when they played the British and Irish Lions in the Lions' send-off match for their tour to New Zealand. The Pumas were forced to choose a side of second- and even third-choice players (prop Mauricio Reggiardo, later voted man of the match, came out of retirement for the game) as 25 players from their selection pool were unavailable due to club commitments. However, a Pumas performance widely hailed as inspired, combined with lacklustre play by a mostly second-choice Lions side, put Argentina on the verge of one of the greatest upsets in recent rugby history. It took a Jonny Wilkinson penalty at the death—and arguably the decision by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson to allow eight minutes of added time at the end of the match—for the Lions to salvage a 25-25 draw and avoid a humiliating defeat.
When the Springboks returned to Argentina in November of that year, they faced a much stronger Pumas side, with most of their European-based players present. The Pumas took a 20-16 lead into the half-time break at Vélez Sársfield. While they faded in the second half, they were not embarrassed, losing 34-23. The following week, the Pumas travelled to Murrayfield to take on Scotland and won a closely-fought match 23-19. This marked the fifth consecutive time since 1990 that Los Pumas had defeated Scotland. They claimed another Six Nations scalp a week later, defeating Italy 39-22 in Genoa.
In the 2006 mid-year Tests, Argentina welcomed a Wales side for a two-Test tour. Los Pumas swept the series, marking their first Test series win over Wales. The first test, on 11 June, was a closely-fought affair, won 27-25. It was historically significant as the first Argentina Test ever to be held in Patagonia. The visitors were welcomed very warmly, as the match was held in Puerto Madryn, one of the major towns in an area that was settled by Welsh in the 1860s and where Welsh is still frequently spoken. The second Test at Vélez Sársfield on 17 June saw the Pumas take a 45-13 lead before two late Welsh tries cut the final margin to 45-27. This did, however, mark Argentina's largest win ever over Wales. Los Pumas next entertained the world's top team, the All Blacks, at Vélez Sársfield the following week. The All Blacks won 25-19, but not until surviving an all-out Pumas assault on their try line in the final minutes.
On 9 July, Argentina defeated Uruguay 26-0 in a Round 3a match during the Americas qualifying for the 2007 World Cup. Being their second win during that stage, Argentina moved directly into the 2007 World Cup, taking the Americas 1 position. They joined Pool D, along with hosts France, and Ireland.
The 2006 end-of-year Tests began with a bang for Los Pumas, as they went into Twickenham and handed England a 25-18 defeat. The error-riddled England side were booed off the Twickenham pitch after they crashed to their seventh consecutive Test defeat, equalling their worst ever run.[2] Further success followed for the Pumas, going on to defeat Italy in Rome and then coming within one point of achieving a similar result against France in Paris.
Los Pumas had been invited by the Belgian Rugby Federation to play their local games there in case of being accepted in an annual competition.[3] Soon after they also received invitations from Spain, Switzerland, France and Portugal.[4]
In the meantime, The Sunday Times of London reported in February 2007 that the IRB was brokering a deal with SANZAR, the body that organises the Tri Nations, to admit Los Pumas to the competition as early as 2008. The story noted that logistical issues, specifically the distance between Argentina and Europe plus fixture congestion in Northern Hemisphere rugby, caused the Six Nations to baulk at admitting Argentina. The IRB was apparently convinced that the Tri Nations was the proper place for a Southern Hemisphere team, and has reportedly found South Africa strongly supporting the move and Australia not opposed. However, The Sunday Times indicated that the biggest stumbling block may well be the UAR itself, "some of whose members are deeply attached to amateurism."[5] Eventually, by August of that year, it became clear that the competition would not be expanded until the key SANZAR media contract with News Corporation expires in 2010. An IRB spokesman, in revealing this news, not only noted the contract, but also Southern Hemisphere fixture congestion and the lack of a professional structure in Argentina as reasons that Los Pumas could not be admitted any sooner.[6]
[edit] 2007 World Cup
Los Pumas began their final preparation for the 2007 World Cup with a two-test series against visiting Ireland, who was grouped against them in France. In the first test on 26 May at Santa Fe, they scored a 22–20 win on a last-minute drop goal by Felipe Contepomi. Both teams were heavily experimental, especially the Irish, with stars such as Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Paul O'Connell and Gordon D'Arcy missing from the touring squad. The Pumas were themselves missing many stars who were playing that weekend in the final round of the 2006-07 Top 14 season in France.[7][8] The second test against Ireland was a 16-0 Pumas win at Vélez Sársfield on 2 June.[9] On 9 June, Los Pumas completed a clean sweep of their mid-year tests with a 24–6 win over Italy in Mendoza. They split their final warmup tests, defeating neighbours Chile 70-14 at CASI in Buenos Aires on 4 August and losing to Wales at Millennium Stadium 27–20 on 18 August.
At the World Cup, Los Pumas were drawn in
 |  |  |  |  |  |
o the so-called pool of death, featuring two other teams ranked in the top six in the IRB rankings—Ireland and the hosts France. On top of this, they opened the World Cup at Stade de France against the French, marking the third consecutive World Cup in which they played against the host nation in the World Cup opener. In possibly one of their finest hours,[10] the Pumas took a 17-9 lead into the half, and held on for a surprising 17-12 win. The Pumas subsequently beat Georgia 33-3 on 11 September at the Stade de Gerland, Lyon. Argentina then went on to beat Namibia 63-3 in Marseille, the biggest winning margin in Argentine World Cup history. They then went on to secure a 30-15 victory against Ireland which ensured that they topped the group. They then defeated Scotland 19-13 in the quarter-final at the Stade de France. The Pumas' improbable run towards the Webb Ellis trophy ended in a comprehensive 37-13 defeat by the Springboks in the semi-final at Stade de France. However, the Pumas recovered to beat France for the second time in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, a 34-10 win in the 3rd/4th place playoff. The 3rd place showing for the Pumas in the 2007 World Cup was Argentina's best ever result in Rugby World Cup history, equal or better to the best showing by IRB founding nations Wales (who were 3rd in the 1987 Rugby World Cup), Scotland (who were 4th in the 1991 Rugby World Cup) and Ireland (which has never qualified for the Rugby World Cup semi-finals).
During their World Cup run, the normally football-crazed Argentines embraced the Pumas so much that El Superclásico, the Buenos Aires football derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate that is normally the biggest event in Argentine sport, was rescheduled so that it would not conflict with the Pumas' quarter-final match.[11] As the only major Spanish language country in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the Pumas also had considerable support from rugby fans in Spain, Uruguay, and other Latin American countries during their impressive five game winning streak.
