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The Argentina national rugby team, nicknamed ''Los Pumas'', represents Argentina in international rugby union matches. The team, which plays in sky blue and white jerseys, is organised by the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR, from the Spanish: ''Unión Argentina de Rugby''). Argentina played its first international rugby match in 1910 against a touring British Isles team. As of November 2015 they are ranked 5th in the world by the IRB, making them the highest-ranked nation in the Americas. They have competed at every Rugby World Cup staged since the inaugural tournament of 1987, and the country may be considered the strongest within the Americas in all-time World Cup competition, undefeated against all but Canada, against whom they have suffered three losses. Although rugby union is nowhere near as popular as football in Argentina, ''Los Pumas impressive results since the 1999 World Cup have seen the sport's popularity grow significantly. Argentina has achieved several upset victories, are tough contenders when playing in Buenos Aires, and are fully capable of regularly defeating Six Nations sides. A surprise victory over the hosts France in the first game of the 2007 World Cup took Argentina to fourth in the IRB World Rankings. The team were undefeated in their pool, and reached the semi-finals for the first time, beating Scotland 19–13 in their quarter-final. They were defeated 37–13 by eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals, but followed this up with a second win over France to claim third place overall. In March 2008 the team reached an all-time high of third in the IRB World Rankings. After their advances in competitiveness and performance during the 2000s, coupled with their location in the Southern Hemisphere, Argentina was the only tier 1 nation that had no regular competition, and some, among them former Pumas captain Agustín Pichot,〔("Six Nations would be magnificent seven with us, pleads Pichot" ), ''Western Mail'', 19 June 2006.〕 have even spoken of them joining the Six Nations. Argentina officially joined The Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on November 23, 2011. where in their first tournament in 2012, Argentina secured a 16–16 draw with The Springboks in only their second game. The 2014 Rugby Championship saw the first Championship-match win for Argentina who defeated Australia 21–17.,. 2015 proved to be a very successful year for Argentinian rugby, as the last match of the 2015 Rugby Championship was Argentina's first ever win over South Africa, where the Pumas defeated the Springboks 37–25 in Durban, and reached another semifinal at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. ==History== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Argentina national rugby union team」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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