Jump to content

1965 Argentina rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1965 Argentina rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa
Official photo of the touring team
ManagerEmilio Jutard
Coach(es)Alberto Camardón
Tour captain(s)Aitor Otaño
Top point scorer(s)Eduardo Poggi (95)
Top try scorer(s)Aitor Otaño
Luis Loyola
(7 each)
Summary
P W D L
Total
16 11 01 04
Test match
01 01 00 00
Opponent
P W D L
South Africa 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.[1][2]

The tour

[edit]
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.[3] 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.[4]

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).[citation needed]

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 [4]

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

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.[1]

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.[5]

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).[6]

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).[7]

Touring team

[edit]

The Argentine squad was made up of 26 touring players:[8]

  • 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

[edit]

Complete list of matches played by Argentine in South Africa:[4]   Test matches [note 1]

Some Pumas posing the match v Border C.D.
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  Rhodesia[note 2] 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  South Africa A 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
  1. ^ The match v. Junior Springboks was considered an official test only by the Argentine Rugby Union.[4]
  2. ^ Rhodesia was an unrecognised state in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe.
Totals
Pld W D L PF PA
16 11 1 4 315 183

Match details

[edit]
8 May
Rhodesia 17–12 Argentina
Try: Otaño (2), Loyola, Neri
Salisbury

12 May
Northern Transvaal25–13 Argentina
Try: González del Solar, Goti, Loyola
Con: Poggi (2)
Pietersburg

15 May
Western Transvaal11–38 Argentina
Try: Goti (2), Gradín, Imhoff, Otaño, Silva
Con: Poggi (2)
Pen: Poggi (2)
Potchefstroom

19 May
South West Africa5–43 Argentina
Try: Goti (2), Neri, Otaño, Silva (3)
Con: Poggi (5)
Windhoek

22 May
Eastern Transvaal9–22 Argentina
Try: Pascual (2), Benzi, Dartiguelongue, Imhoff, Silva
Con: Poggi
Ermelo

26 May
Griqualand West12–32 Argentina
Try: Benzi (2), Otaño (2), Goti, McCormick
Con: Cazenave (4)
Pen: Cazenave (2)
Kimberley

29 May
North Eastern Districts6–17 Argentina
Try: Poggi (2), Loyola
Con: Cazenave
Pen: Poggi
Drop: Benzi
Aliwal North

1 Jun
Border C.D.6–6 Argentina
Try: Cazenave
Pen: Poggi
Queenstown

3 Jun
Eastern Province6–27 Argentina
Try: Pascual (2), España, Gradín, Loyola
Con: Cazenave (3)
Pen: Cazenave, Poggi
Cradock

5 Jun
South Western Districts3–0 Argentina
Try: Pascual (2), España, Gradín, Loyola
Con: Cazenave (3)
Pen: Cazenave, Poggi
Oudtshoorn

5 Jun
Southern Universities6–22 Argentina
Try: Coti, Gradín, Neri, Rodríguez Jurado, Schmidt
Con: Poggi (2)
Pen: Poggi
Cape Town

12 Jun
Boland12–20 Argentina
Try: Otaño, Poggi
Con: Poggi
Pen: Poggi (4)
Wellington

16 Jun
Orange Free State14–17 Argentina
Try: Cazenave, España, Loyola
Con: Poggi
Pen: Poggi (2)
Welkom

19 June
South Africa A 6–11 Argentina
Try: Du Preez (2)ReportTry: España
Loyola
Pascual
Con: Poggi
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Pieter Robbertse

23 Jun
Natal14–24 Argentina
Try: Benzi, Loyola, Poggi, Rodríguez Jurado
Con: Cazenave (3)
Pen: Cazenave
Durban

26 Jun
South African C.D.31–11 Argentina
Try: España, Pascual
Con: Poggi
Pen: Poggi
Bloemfontein

Statistics

[edit]

Most matches

[edit]
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

[edit]
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

[edit]

The tour is considered the birth of the modern "Pumas" because of the national team had not achieved great results until then.[1] The victory v the Junior Springboks was widely covered by the Argentine media and it is considered a turning point for the national team.[3]

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.[2]

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.[2]

"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".[2]

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Vivian Jenkins, ed. (1979). Rothmans Rugby Yearbook 1979-80. Queen Anne Press. pp. 47–51. ISBN 0-354-09087-9.

References

[edit]