South American Jaguars

For a similar team of the 2010s, see South American XV.

The South American Jaguars was a rugby union team made up of players from South America, who competed against South African teams in the 1980s.

History

The side was formed in the 1980s for fixtures against South Africa who invited South America to tour there as a way of counteracting its sporting isolation which was due to the country's apartheid policies. The team that toured, was mainly made up of Argentina players and included a few Uruguayan, Chilean, Paraguayan and Brazilian players. Over the eight matches played, seven of them were won by the Springboks and only one was won by the Jaguars. This single victory came at Bloemfontein in 1982.

The Jaguars was a 'shadow' Argentine national team, not officially recognized by Union Argentina de Rugby, a stratagem to elude the prohibition of the Argentine government that since the early 1970s forbade any official relationship between any Argentine sport federation and South African and Rhodesian ones, due to the apartheid politics of those countries. This ostracism started in 1971 when the Argentine government forbade the Pumas to play a match in Rhodesia during the tour in South Africa.[1]

In March 1973, the Argentine government and the Union Argentina de Rugby had a great conflict: the government contested to UAR the permit given to San Isidro Club to visit South Africa, and forced the federal committee of UAR to resign. A new committee was elected on 24 April 1973. In November the government also forbade all visits to South Africa by any Argentine team and any visit of a South African team into Argentina. This ban remained until 1991.

In 1984 the Argentine Government forced the Union Argentina de Rugby to forbid the use of any Argentine emblem by the players.[2]

Results

Date Venue Home Score Away Tour
26 April 1980 Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg South Africa  24 - 9 South American Jaguars 1980 South America tour
3 May 1980 Kings Park Stadium, Durban South Africa  18 - 9 South American Jaguars
18 October 1980 Montevideo, Uruguay South American Jaguars 13 - 22  South Africa 1980 South Africa tour
25 October 1980 Santiago, Chile South American Jaguars 16 - 30  South Africa
27 March 1982 Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria South Africa  50 - 18 South American Jaguars 1982 South America tour
3 April 1982 Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein South Africa  12 - 21 South American Jaguars
20 October 1984 Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria South Africa  32 - 15 South American Jaguars
27 October 1984 Newlands Stadium, Cape Town South Africa  22 - 13[3] South American Jaguars

References

  1. ↑ Union Argentina dr Rugby Memorias 1971 pag.9
  2. ↑ UAR Memorias 1984 pag. 3
  3. ↑ South Africa (12) 22 - 13 (7) South America, www.espnscrum.com, retrieved on 19th November 2013.
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