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
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).
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
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
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 Test matches
# Date Rival Res. Score City 1 8 May 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 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
Totals Pld W D L PF PA 16 11 1 4 315 183
Match details
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
Statistics Most matches Player Match. Eduardo Poggi Aitor Otaño Marcelo Pascual Héctor Silva Luis Loyola Eduardo España Luis García Yáñez Roberto Cazenave Ronaldo Foster
Top scorers Player Tries Conv. Drops Pen. Mark. Total pts. 6 16 0 15 0 95 2 11 0 4 1 43 7 0 0 0 0 21 7 0 0 0 0 21 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:
About the first matches, Heriberto Handley said in the same interview:
"Coco" Benzi added:
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References