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Argentina are under no illusions they will have to play the game of their lives to beat South Africa in their Rugby World Cup semifinal on Monday.
Argentina have never beaten South Africa and this clash at the Stade de France is the biggest between the two nations since Argentina were baptised the Pumas on their first international tour, to southern Africa, in 1965.
The Springboks have won the 11 test matches they have played against Argentina since 1993 when South Africa returned officially to international rugby following the fall of apartheid.
"It's going to be complicated, Argentina have never beaten them," said fullback Ignacio Corleto.
"Many roles have changed on paper in the history of the competition, we've beaten France, but for now this will be a lot more complicated than against the French."
The Pumas notched up a fifth victory in six meetings with France when they upset the host nation 17-12 in the opening match of the tournament.
They believe, however, that in a tournament in which they have set milestones for Argentine rugby they can achieve more by reaching the final.
"This team fought too much to say now that everything else is a bonus," Corleto said.
"We want more. We achieved the first objective, then the second, now it is to reach the final. We're going for a win, that's clear."
Argentina, who had never sent a team abroad before, caused a sensation in South Africa in 1965 when they beat the Junior Springboks 11-6 on a tour that marked the birth of the Pumas.
A local reporter, misidentifying the animal on the Argentines' badge which is a species of South American jaguar called a jaguarete, nicknamed them the Pumas.
The next contact came in 1982, when the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) defied the international boycott of apartheid South Africa by sending a squad with a token few players from other countries to play the Springboks.
Corleto refused to comment on the political implications of the tour on which Marcelo Loffreda, the Pumas' World Cup coach, played at centre in the side captained by Hugo Porta.
The South American Jaguars lost the first test 50-18 in Pretoria but shocked the Bloemfontein crowd by winning the second 21-12 with the masterful Porta scoring all their points, including a converted try and a drop goal.
Argentina's first full test matches with South Africa were played in Buenos Aires in 1993 against a Springboks side captained by Francois Pienaar preparing to host the 1995 World Cup.
A veteran Loffreda then captained the Pumas on a 1994 tour of South Africa.
Props Omar Hasan and Martin Scelzo and halfback Nicolas Fernandez Miranda were the first members of the 2007 Pumas squad to face South Africa in a series in Buenos Aires in 1996.
Present Pumas captain Agustin Pichot faced South Africa for the first time in a test at the River Plate soccer ground in Buenos Aires in November 2000, a 37-33 win for the Springboks in the fourth match of Loffreda's eight-year tenure as Pumas coach. Argentina lost 49-29 in Springs in 2002 but by just one point, 26-25, on another visit to South Africa in 2003.
South Africa coach Jake White's two confrontations so far with Loffreda were in Buenos Aires, a 39-7 victory in 2004 followed by a 34-23 win in November 2005 with 13 of the present Pumas squad in the starting lineup and four more on the bench.
- Reuters
