For the first time in the history of the Rugby World Cup, three South American teams managed to qualify. In the wake of the “Pumas” of Argentina, Uruguay defended well against France on Thursday September 14 and Chile will play its second match on Saturday.
In Latin America too, it is the all-powerful Royal Navy of the 19the century which introduced rugby. In Chile, the first documented match was organized by British sailors in the port of Iquique in 1894. But the British colonists did not finish the job with the oval ball, South American rugby enthusiasts now say : barely 30,000 licensees in Chile, half as many in Uruguay (but three times as many in Argentina).
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Compared to the sacrosanct football, rugby remains a niche sport there, long reserved for the sons of good families, practiced in universities and which sees in this World Cup a golden opportunity to convert new followers. The Chileans’ big premiere, Sunday September 10, was broadcast for the first time on a national pay channel.
The “Garra”, this gift of self made of bravery
The main asset of these teams is the Garra. In Latin rugby, Garra is the gift of oneself, this ability to move forward, whatever the scenario of the match, including in weak moments. Originally, the word designates the paw with thick leather and sharp claws of the iguana, an animal found almost everywhere in Latin America. And this state of mind, the Chileans demonstrated it, by scoring the first try of this Cup against Japan. Same thing for the Uruguayans against France on Thursday evening.
Each South American team has its own definition of Garra. The Argentinians have been experimenting with it since the very first World Cup, in 1987. They have never missed a single edition since then and have long remained the bugbears of the French, for example during their coup at the Stade de France during the 2007 World Cup. The Argentine Pumas are also the driving forces of Súper Rugby Américas, which brings together the best franchises on the continent. This small Latino team has managed to establish itself between the two hemispheres of world rugby.
The shadow of Che Guevara
Its success is also perhaps due to the journey of a suffering 14-year-old who became a revolutionary legend: Ernesto Guevara. Che, founder in 1951 of the magazine Tackle (“tackle”), was a college player under an Irish coach at San Isidro, who remembers: “I trained Ernesto Guevara for three years. He had a breathing problem, it was asthma and I had to put him on the wing, on the sidelines, so that he would be more near his medication. He loved playing rugby, he was talented, he was aggressive, he tackled very hard.”
There is perhaps something revolutionary in this Latin rugby. Augustín Pichot, former Argentine captain and former vice-president of the international federation, said of Che: “I see a connection between his love of rugby and ours, between his desire to change the world and our desire to be recognized.”