* The summary of the fifth place of Los Pumas 7 that led them to win the season
One more milestone for Los Pumas 7 in an unforgettable season. The Argentine men’s rugby seven team finished in first position on the world circuit for the first time in its history. In the Singapore stage, the last before the title finals that will take place from May 31 to June 2 in Madrid, Santiago Gómez Cora’s team reached fifth place after beating South Africa 14-10 and made sure to finish at the top of the standings with 106 points.
The Argentine team finished a brilliant campaign. After a fantastic start with runner-up in the first stage in Dubai, Los Pumas 7 were crowned in the following three editions of the World Rugby Seven Series: They triumphed in Cape Town and in Perth to Australia, while In the Vancouver stage they beat New Zealand to achieve three consecutive consecrations.
After that streak, they finished in 5th place in the Los Angeles edition and added a ninth place in Hong Kong in early April (it gave them 4 points on the table) before what was another fifth place in Singapore after winning to South Africans.
In the path of Los Pumas 7 during the last stage, it is worth mentioning that they fell in the opening of the group stage against Australia (19-26) and then recovered in great form with a resounding victory against the All Blacks (33- 5). In the third and final duel of the zone, they overwhelmed Canada 38-0. In the quarterfinals, those led by Gómez Cora could not beat Ireland, the team that was chasing them in the fight for No. 1 in the regular phase of the world rugby sevens circuit.
Despite the defeat against the Irish (5-21), The victory against the Springboks was decisive to add 12 points and extend the advantage necessary to ensure finishing in first place of the calendar year standings.
“I can not believe it. You know my entire career as a player and now as a coach. I lost against you by more than 40 points and now we lead the table. It’s a dream. I am very happy, very proud of my country“said Santi Gómez Cora in dialogue with former New Zealand player Karl Te Nana, who is currently a field reporter for the official broadcast of the circuit.
“If people know who we are, more people support our team. We need more kids playing. We were able to put Argentina as the leader. We are very proud because we are leading this season and it is a dream. When you work very hard, dreams come true“, he added, at the same time that he stressed that this result “means a lot” for Argentine rugby.
“Thank you for supporting us! The schedule is terrible for us. Go to the clubs, play rugby… And let’s go Los Pumas 7s!”, concluded the coach and key man in the history of Argentine rugby sevens. Now, it will be the turn to go look for the world circuit title in the capital of Spain and a few weeks later, aim for the great goal of the year for this team: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
All the matches and results of Los Pumas 7s on the way to first place
DUBAI SEVEN (December 2 and 3, 2023)
Argentina 26 vs Spain 12 (Group B)
Argentina 31 vs Australia 14 (Group B)
Argentina 17 vs Ireland 7 (Group B)
Argentina 21 vs Samoa 14 (Quarterfinals for Gold)
Argentina 21 vs New Zealand 19 (semifinals for Gold)
Argentina 7 vs South Africa 12 (Gold final)
CAPE TOWN SEVEN (December 9-10, 2023)
Argentina 31 vs Spain 12 (Group B)
Argentina 21 vs France 7 (Group B)
Argentina 12 vs Fiji 19 (Group B)
Argentina 33 vs Canada 0 (quarterfinals for Gold)
Argentina 26 vs Ireland 19 (semifinals for Gold)
Argentina 45 vs Australia 12 (Gold final)
PERTH SEVEN (January 26-28, 2024)
Argentina 28 vs Spain 5 (Group A)
Argentina 29 vs Canada 5 (Group A)
Argentina 19 vs South Africa 5 (Group A)
Argentina 28 vs Spain 17 (Quarterfinals for Gold)
Argentina 24 vs Ireland 5 (semifinals for Gold)
Argentina 31 vs Australia 5 (Gold final)
VANCOUVER SEVEN (February 23-25, 2024)
Argentina 12 vs Canada 10 (Group A)
Argentina 38 vs Spain 7 (Group A)
Argentina 24 vs Fiji 19 (Group A)
Argentina 14 vs Samoa 12 (Quarterfinals for Gold)
Argentina 35 vs United States 19 (semifinals for Gold)
Argentina 36 vs New Zealand 12 (Gold final)
LOS ANGELES SEVEN (March 1-3, 2024)
Argentina 28 vs Spain 21 (Group A)
Argentina 17 vs South Africa 5 (Group A)
Argentina 26 vs Ireland 14 (Group A)
Argentina 14 vs Ireland 24 (Quarterfinals for Gold)
Argentina 26 vs Fiji 21 (Definition 5th place)
HONG KONG SEVEN (April 4, 5 and 6)
Argentina 10 vs United States 14 (Group B)
Argentina 0 vs New Zealand 22 (Group B)
Argentina 17 vs Great Britain 14 (in extra time; Group B)
Argentina 21 vs Canada 0 (semifinal 9th place)
Argentina 42 vs Samoa 0 (9th place)
SINGAPORE SEVEN (May 3, 4 and 5)
Argentina 19 vs Australia 26 (Group A)
Argentina 33 vs New Zealand 5 (Group A)
Argentina 38 vs Canada 0 (Group A)
Argentina 5 vs Ireland 21 (Quarterfinals)
Argentina 14 vs South Africa 10 (5th place)
