Jaguares

Jaguares are one of the finest rugby union sides in South America. In 2016, they became the first Argentinian team to feature in Super Rugby and they finished as the tournament's runners-up in 2019. However, they departed the competition at the conclusion of the abandoned 2020 season.

Read on to discover everything you need to know about the Jaguares Rugby team. On this page you can learn all about the history of the side and the players that represented the team.

Following Argentina's third-place finish at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the country's governing body began to campaign for Argentina's inclusion in the Tri Nations tournament (now the Rugby Championship). However, although they joined the competition in the 2012 season, there was still no professional league in Argentina at the time. So, the Argentine Rugby Union launched a team called Pampas XV that competed in various competitions such as the South African Vodacom Cup and the World Rugby Pacific Challenge.

However, because the broadcast rights for Super Rugby had already been sold for the 2011-2015 period, an Argentinian side was unable to compete in the competition during this time. Following the conclusion of this deal, the Super Rugby tournament was expanded to 18 sides and an Argentinian side known as Jaguares joined the South African conference.

The Jaguares Rugby team made a slow start to the competition and finished 13th and 10th in their first two seasons. However, they improved rapidly and qualified for the knock-out phase of the competition in 2018. A year later, they reached the final. Sadly, they were defeated by the Crusaders.

In 2020, the Super Rugby season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic and a new regional structure was launched due to restrictions on overseas travel. As a result, the Jaguares Rugby team announced they would leave the competition in 2021 because they were unable to compete in a regionalised format.

Although the team's stay in Super Rugby was short lived, several established Argentine internationals did feature for the Jaguares Rugby team and Nicolás Sánchez scored almost 400 points for the side between 2016 and 2018.

In addition, several other famous Argentinian rugby players also featured for Jaguares, including hooker Agustín Creevy, who also played for Montpellier, Worcester Warriors and London Irish in elite European competitions.