Los Pumas get a blast from the past ahead of Bok showdown
SPOTLIGHT: Argentina will be getting some timely reminders of what they can achieve on South African soil.
Felipe Contepomi’s side is currently in Durban preparing for their Rugby Championship Round Five clash against the Springboks this coming Saturday.
The sides will meet again a week later in London for the finale.
The final rounds will be huge for all involved as the tournament enters its tightest finish ever.
All four sides have won two and lost two so far, with only bonus points and points difference separating them.
Australia are a bonus point ahead of South Africa and New Zealand in the standings, with Argentina a point further back in a wide-open title race.
Los Pumas will be underdogs at Kings Park on September 27, but 2025 also marks the 10th anniversary of one of their most famous wins, which was at that venue.
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On August 8, 2015, Argentina recorded a historic first Test win (37-25) over South Africa, who were coached by Heyneke Meyer that year.
Wing Juan Imhoff famously scored a hat-trick of tries on that day, and the result also marked the first time Argentina won on the road in the tournament.
South Africa’s captain at the time, Jean de Villiers, called his team’s performance “embarrassing” as they closed out a shortened Rugby Championship that year with zero wins from three matches.
Since that match, Los Pumas have only beaten the Boks on three occasions, all on Argentinian soil, with the most recent being a 29-28 victory in Santiago del Estero. The last time the teams met at Kings Park was in 2022, with the Boks coming out on top with a 38-21 victory.
Although it was a decade ago, the Argentinians will draw some inspiration from that 2015 result, and they still have a couple of survivors from that outing in the form of Pablo Matera and Guido Petti in the current squad.
The Springboks also have several current players who were involved in that match. They are Siya Kolisi, Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Vincent Koch, Cobus Reinach, Willie le Roux and Lood de Jager.
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The Pumas have come a long way since that match, and they can now consider themselves genuine title contenders. However, there is no harm in looking at the past and knowing what they can achieve.
They have already taken to social media to remind everyone of their heroics in 2015, and it will surely instil confidence in the current crop of players.
“What do you remember about that match in 2015?” was the caption to one of their latest X posts heading into next weekend’s encounter.
Argentina could also go back further for more inspiration,
Before the professional era, back in 1982, the South American Jaguars, spearheaded by the great Hugo Porta, famously beat the Springboks 21-12 in Bloemfontein.
That tour squad consisted of players from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. However, the players who took part in the matches against the Boks were drawn entirely from the Argentinian national team.
𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗼𝘀 𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 🇦🇷
¿Qué te acordás de aquel partido en 2015? 🥹#SomosLosPumas pic.twitter.com/pcndcDE7Lk
— Los Pumas (@lospumas) September 19, 2025
