A cursory glance at the Rugby Championship standings will tell you a story, but not the whole one. What you will see is that the All Blacks have won again (shock), South Africa came a close second (typical), Australia did ok in bits (sigh), and Argentina collected yet another ‘wooden spoon’.
What you will not see is just how thrilling, competitive and topsy-turvy this year’s championship was. One of the best ever, the competition could have mathematically been won by every team going into the last round.
It really felt like each team could beat the other at any point. Key to that level of competition was the unprecedented early series struggles of the All Blacks (despite eventually winning it) and, equally, the continued rise of Argentina as a force to rival the others.
The standout result of the competition was, surely, Los Pumas' first-ever victory in New Zealand when they overcame the All Blacks 25-18 in Christchurch.
What you will also not see by glancing at the table is just how momentous that result was. What you will not see is just how massive a milestone that was for one of rugby’s most improved national teams in the past few years.
It was a shock result and a historical anomaly in the story of New Zealand rugby but for fans of the Pumas and the team itself, it was a success that was a long time in the making. It was not, as it may look, purely a one-off win by a plucky underdog side. It was, rather, the fruit borne of the culmination of strategies that were set into motion years ago.
Pumas on the international stage
The Pumas have been bothering the traditional world order of rugby for some time now. Their World Cup appearances have been eye-catching and attest to the fact that they have been a competitive side for over two decades. Indeed, they have only failed to exit the group stages in two of the last six World Cups.
1999 was the first time they cracked the quarterfinal stage and then in 2007 and 2015 they made it to the semi-finals. What’s more, 2007 saw them grab third place and their highest-ever finish. The last World Cup was not their best showing, exiting in the pool stage, but their overall World Cup record goes to show, they have been mixing it on the world stage for some time now.
This was, for a long time, despite the fact that the Pumas were the only 'top tier' rugby nation that was not involved in a top-level annual international competition. While the European nations had the Six Nations and the southern hemisphere's big three had the Tri-Nations, Argentina had nothing comparable for much of its history.
There they were perched on a faraway continent and quite distant from the dual epicentres of professional rugby.
Their impressive World Cup exploits were ultimately the catalyst for including them in a top-tier competition and finally, in 2012, Argentina joined forces with South Africa, New Zealand & Australia (SANZAR) to form the Rugby Championship. Thus expanding the annual southern hemisphere competition from three to four nations and turning SANZAR into SANZAAR.
In the period since then, they have by far been the worst of the four teams overall, but have produced steadily improving performances. In 11 years, they have only finished off bottom place twice and they have only won a total of nine matches (out of 58) against their southern-hemispheric foes.
Both the occasions they didn't finish last - 2015 and 2020 - were instances when the competition was shortened. In 2015, that was due to the upcoming World Cup. While in 2020, thanks to COVID-19 issues, the competition was reduced to a three-team tournament (without South Africa) staged exclusively in Australia.
This record offers quite slim pickings when it comes to successes on face value at least. But bear in mind that they have been up against three of rugby’s historical elite all the while. Just like in this year’s championship, their record doesn't tell the full story and they have broken brave new ground in recent years in particular.
They beat the All Blacks for the first time ever in 2020, on neutral ground in Sydney. And then they beat them again, and for the first time ever in New Zealand this year. Make no bones about it, any victory over the All Blacks is a victory worthy of attention. What’s more, this year’s tournament also saw them beat Australia by their largest ever margin when they ran out 48-17 winners in San Juan, securing a bonus point in the process.
Going into the last two rounds of the tournament this year, they had a real chance to grab something more than another wooden spoon. They even had a realistic shot at their first title. All four teams had played four, won two and lost two at that stage in the competition.
The final two rounds saw Argentina playing South Africa twice, first at home and then away in Durban. Unfortunately, in Buenos Aires, they were outclassed by South Africa 36-20. Overwhelmed in the first half, their late fightback was not enough to grab any competition points.
Then last Saturday in Durban, indiscipline really hurt the Pumas as they collected four yellow cards throughout the match and conceded two penalty tries in a game in which they put the home team under real pressure. It ended 38-21 but it was a five-point game with only 10 minutes remaining and the final score flattered the Boks in the end. Once again, the result didn't tell the whole story.
The Pumas will surely rue their missed chance to do something defining in the last two games of the competition this year but nonetheless, they can look back proudly on this year's Rugby Championship as possibly their best ever on a performance basis.
Undoubtedly, joining the Rugby Championship and getting consistent competitive international rugby has played a key role in seeing them develop as a side in recent years but that’s not the only factor.
The short-lived success of Jaguares
Argentina's location away from the traditional power bases of rugby long posed an issue for the development of its game. The key responses to this issue were two-fold. First, as explained, petitioning to join and expand the Tri-Nations. But also, things had to change to allow more players in Argentina access to a top-level club or franchise rugby more readily.
Players in the country don’t have access to a fully-professional league locally and so historically, have mostly looked to continental Europe and the British Isles to further develop professional careers. In an effort to change this, the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) sought to have an Argentine team included in SANZARs domestic franchise competitions - Super Rugby.
This brought rise to Jaguares. A professional team based in Buenos Aries that the UAR petitioned to be included in the Super Rugby franchise competition. In 2016, they entered the competition for the first time and participated right up until the end of the 2020 edition before changes to the competition forced them out again.
Entering the Super Rugby competition was a huge boon for Argentine rugby and the team was an absolute success story, going all the way to the final in 2019.
Jaguares' participation in the tournament allowed Argentina to have what was essentially a professional development team, branded as a franchise, playing in a top-tier rugby competition. This meant Argentina had its best players playing better rugby for longer in the year, competing with the best players in the southern hemisphere on a franchise front and then following that up with further exposure and development in the Rugby Championship itself.
Jaguares players formed the bulk of the Argentina squad (or vice versa) for the years that it played in the Super Rugby competition. In fact, in its inception year, almost all of Argentina's squad came from Jaguares. It was practically just the same team with a couple of exceptions.
As Jaguares’ success continued, more and more of the players associated with the team moved to prominent European clubs allowing Jaguares to blood more talent from the domestic pool.
Unfortunately, the pandemic saw Super Rugby rethink itself and ultimately regionalise. The South African teams have now broken away completely and joined the United Rugby Championship (URC). While Super Rugby has been re-launched as a competition comprising just the Australian and Kiwi franchises of old plus two newer pacific-based teams, leaving no place for Jaguares, sadly.
As a result, there has been a large exodus of Argentine players into European club competitions. Ironically, this has meant a return for players from Argentina to the destinations that the national team once used to draw much of its best talent from.
Whilst that might sound like a backwards step of sorts, it’s more nuanced than that. There is now a much greater presence of Argentine players at top clubs in Europe thanks, in part, to Jaguares' existence and, in turn, exposure of talent.
Where once there was a smattering of Argentine players drawn from top European teams, now almost all of them are. With the notable exception of star forward, Pablo Matera (29), who stayed in the Super Rugby realm after signing for Crusaders for this year’s competition - yet another example of Pumas breaking bold new ground.
The Cheika effect
Another more recent coup for Argentine rugby was the recruitment of Australian Michael Cheika (55) as head coach. The former Wallabies boss joined earlier this year and his appointment has seen the Pumas step up a gear and take their performances to another level in terms of intensity and consistency.
After a highly successful club coaching career that saw him lead Leinster, Stade Francais and the NSW Waratahs, Cheika was appointed Wallabies coach in 2014 and stayed in the role for five years, straddling two World Cups. It was a period that saw the Wallabies reach the 2015 World Cup final, which they lost to New Zealand.
After sustaining Australia as a top-three nation for some time, the Wallabies' world ranking steadily dropped throughout his tenure down to as low as ninth. The 2019 World Cup ended with a quarterfinal exit to England and that also spelt the end for Cheika in the post.
Despite a disappointing end to his Wallabies career, Chieka has remained a highly regarded figure in rugby circles. After initially joining Argentina in an advisory role in 2020, he was appointed head coach in March this year through to the end of the World Cup next year.
Since then Cheika has overseen the three-match home series against Scotland, which Argentina won 2-1 with a dramatic last-gasp victory in the third test, and this year’s Rugby Championship, which included the record-breaking results mentioned.
The Cheika-effect is real and his appointment is a source of huge excitement for what’s to come from the Pumas in the next year.
With an elite coach on board and some memorable recent results under their belts, this Pumas side looks stronger than most that have come before them and is undeniably a side on the rise. The success they have tasted this season is the culmination of long-term strategies laid years ago to broaden professionalism and thus aid their fortunes on the field. The future looks bright as the fruits of their labour continue to bloom.
Their next test will be their autumn internationals.
After facing Japan in late October, they go to Europe in November to play England, Wales and then Scotland in what will all be tough and exciting encounters. With the Rugby World Cup (France, 2023) still a year away, there’s plenty of time to hone their crafts and develop as a team even further.
Who knows, perhaps an appearance in the World Cup final is next on the agenda for the perennially over-achieving Pumas.