First Pumas captain Otano dies aged 67

BUENOS AIRES - The first captain of Argentina's Pumas, Aitor Otano has died of heart failure at the age of 67.

The big lock forward led Argentina to victory over the Junior Springboks on a ground-breaking tour of South Africa in 1965 when the team earned their Pumas nickname.

Otano, who played for Pucara in the Argentine top flight, became the first rugby player to be voted Argentine sportsman of the year in 1965, 20 years before the country's greatest player Hugo Porta.

He played for the Pumas until 1971, the year of first five-eighth Porta's Pumas debut. He ended his international career against a combined Oxford-Cambridge university touring side, a regular feature during the early development of rugby in Argentina.

Otano retired altogether in 1974 but remained in the game as a coach, including spells with the Pumas, selector and manager with the Argentine Rugby Union.

He died at his home in a Buenos Aires suburb, succumbing to an infection after undergoing back surgery three weeks ago.

- REUTERS