Colours: White and light blue hoops
Nickname: Pumas
Honours: RWC'99 Quarter-finals
Coach: After leading los Pumas to third place at the 2007 in France, Marcelo Loffreda handed the reigns over to former international flank Santiago Phelan, who played 44 Tests for Argentina, captaining the side twice. With massive boots to fill following Loffreda's seven successful years, Phelan struggled initially, due in no small part to the fact that a number of senior players retired at the end of 2007. Phelan's job is not made any easier by the fact that the vast majority of his players are based overseas. Victory over England in Salta in 2009 is his most important achievement as coach so far.
Captain: After the retirement of legendary scrum-half Agustin Pichot and in the absence of injured centre Felipe Contepomi, Toulon loose-forward Juan Fernandez Lobbe led his country during the 2009 internationals. Able to play number eight or flank, the powerful runner was a feature of the Pumas eye-catching World Cup campaign and has become a stalwart in the back row.
Player(s) to watch: Over the last few years, Juan Martín Hernández has become one of the most exciting players in world rugby, whether at full-back or at fly-half. His nickname 'El Mago' (the magician) says everything about his talent. Although he missed the 2009 November internationals due to injury, he is key element in the Pumas' game. Hernández moved to the Sharks in South Africa after four seasons with Stade Français. Rumours suggest that Hernández move back to Paris to join Racing Metro after the 2010 Super 14.
Profile: Despite rugby being the poor relation to the round ball game in soccer-mad Argentina, 'Los Pumas' - as the national team are known - emerged from 1999 World Cup with great pride and continued to build until hitting their peak with third place in the 2007 World Cup in France - where they beat the hosts twice.
Argentina started 2008 ranked third in the world but slipped to fourth during the year before free-falling down the IRB rankings in 2009, ending it seventh.
The Pumas pack is widely regarded as one of the best in the world, especially at scrum time, although their have been many criticisms in recent times of Argentina's one-sided approach, based on kicking and the strength of their pack.
To be fair, when Felipe Contepomi and Juan Martín Hernández are absent, the Argentine back-line does seem to lack firepower.
With increasing numbers of their players signing up on professional contracts at the turn of the century at clubs around the world - particularly France - many previously amateur Pumas had the chance to train and play full-time which has slowly but surely reaped dividends and allowed Argentina to become a genuine threat to any team.
Their 25-all draw with the British and Irish Lions in 2005 and their 25-18 win over England, at Twickenham, in 2006 set up that stellar 2007 season.
But it is a commonly accepted that if Argentina are to develop into a true force in world rugby, they must enter a big annual competition and an invitation to join an expand Tri-Nations has been offered starting in 2012.
An Argentina development team has also been entered into the Vodacom Cup in South Africa starting in 2010.