Marcelo Loffreda

Marcelo Loffreda (born May 17, 1959, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine former rugby union footballer and coach. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side (los Pumas). He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta and scored 4 test tries.

Marcelo Loffreda

Loffreda in 1994
Date of birth	(1959-05-17) May 17, 1959
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1979-1994 San Isidro Club () National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1978-1994 Argentina 50 (57) Teams coached Years Team 1995-2000 2000-2007 2007-2008 San Isidro Club Argentina Leicester Tigers

In 1994 he hung up his playing boots and became a coach. In April 2000, he was appointed coach of Argentina and steered them to series victories over France, Wales and Scotland, a draw with the British and Irish Lions, a win against England at Twickenham in November 2006 as well as coming close to securing the Pumas' first victories over South Africa and New Zealand. The Pumas went on to their all-time best finish of third at the 2007 World Cup, including an opening win over hosts France, a pool win over Ireland, and another win over France in the third-place match. This success was Loffreda's swansong as Pumas coach, as he had announced months before the tournament that he would leave the Pumas after the World Cup for the job of Director of Rugby at Leicester.[1]

Loffreda graduated in civil engineering at Universidad de Buenos Aires and was sales manager for Argentine textile and footwear company Alpargatas.[2]

He is married with five children: Sophia, Nicolas, Juana, Olivia and Marina (in age order)

Loffreda was sacked from his job as Head Coach at Leicester on June 6, 2008, after just one season at the club. Despite reaching two finals (EDF energy and Guinness Premiership) he was dismissed due to poor results. Leicester only just reached the Premiership playoffs and barely qualified for the Heineken Cup; from a club of this self-perceived standard, this was seen as unacceptable. He was succeeded as Leicester Tigers coach by then 40-year-old South African, Heyneke Meyer in late June 2008.

He has returned to Argentina as a coach.

International Matches as Head Coach

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking Argentina was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Matches (2000–2007)
Matches	Date	Opposition	Venue	Score (Arg.–Opponent)	Competition	Captain	World Rank
2000
1	3 June	Ireland	Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires	34–23	Mid-year test	Agustín Pichot	N/A
2	17 June	Australia	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane	6–53	Australia tour	Lisandro Arbizu
3	24 June		Canberra Stadium, Canberra	25–32
4	12 November	South Africa	River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires	33–37	End-of-year tests
5	25 November	England	Twickenham, London	0–19
2001
6	19 May	Uruguay	Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston	32–27	PARA Pan American Championship	Agustín Pichot	N/A
7	23 May	United States	Mohawk Sports Park, Hamilton	44–16
8	26 May	Canada	Fletcher's Fields, Markham	20–6
9	23 June	New Zealand	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	19–67	Mid-year test	Lisandro Arbizu
10	14 July	Italy	Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires	38–17	Mid-year test
11	10 November	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	30–16	End-of-year tests
12	18 November	Scotland	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	25–16
13	1 December	New Zealand	River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires	20–24
2002
14	28 April	Uruguay	Estadio Bautista Gargantini, Mendoza	35–21	South American Rugby Championship	Nicolás Fernández Miranda	N/A
15	1 May	Paraguay		152–0		Santiago Phelan
16	4 May	Chile		57–13		Nicolás Fernández Miranda
17	15 June	France	José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires	28–27	Mid-year tests	Lisandro Arbizu
18	22 June	England		18–26		Agustín Pichot
19	29 June	South Africa	PAM Brink Stadium, Springs	29–49
20	2 November	Australia	River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires	6–17	End-of-year tests	Lisandro Arbizu
21	16 November	Italy	Stadio Flaminio, Rome	33–6
22	23 November	Ireland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	7–16
2003
23	27 April	Paraguay	Estadio Luis Franzini, Montevideo	144–0	South American Rugby Championship	Lucas Ostiglia	N/A
24	30 April	Chile		49–3		Nicolás Fernández Miranda
25	3 May	Uruguay		32–0		Sebastián Aguirre
26	14 June	France	José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires	10–6	France Series	Lisandro Arbizu
27	20 June			33–32
28	28 June	South Africa	EPRU Stadium, Port Elizabeth	25–26	Mid-year test	Gonzalo Longo
29	18 August	Fiji	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba	49–30	Test Match
30	23 August	United States	B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires	42–8	PARA Pan American Championship	Lisandro Arbizu
31	27 August	Uruguay	C.A.S.I., Buenos Aires	57–0		Agustin Pichot
32	30 August	Canada	B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires	62–22		Lisandro Arbizu
33	10 October	Australia	Stadium Australia, Sydney	8–24	2003 Rugby World Cup	Agustin Pichot	7th
34	14 October 2003	Namibia	Central Coast Stadium, Gosford	67–14		Nicolás Fernández Miranda	7th
35	22 October 2003	Romania	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	50–3		Santiago Phelan	7th
36	26 October	Ireland	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	15–16		Agustin Pichot	7th
2004
37	25 April	Chile	Prince of Wales Country Club, Santiago	45–3	South American Rugby Championship	Federico Méndez	7th
38	28 April	Uruguay		69–10			7th
39	1 May	Venezuela		147–7		Pablo Bouza	7th
40	12 June	Wales	Estadio Monumental José Fierro, San Miguel de Tucumán	50–44	Wales Series	Gonzalo Longo	7th
41	19 June		Ferrocarril Stadium, Buenos Aires	20–35			8th
42	26 June	New Zealand	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton	7–41	Mid-year test		8th
43	20 November	France	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille	24–14	End-of-year tests	Agustin Pichot	7th
44	27 November	Ireland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	19–21			7th
45	4 December	South Africa	José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires	7–39			7th
2005
46	23 April	Japan	B.A.C. & R.C., Buenos Aires	68–36	Nicolás Fernández Miranda	Test Match	8th
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W 68-36 v Japan Buenos Aires 23 Apr 2005
W 48-13 v Chile Buenos Aires 8 May
W 27-21 v Uruguay Buenos Aires 15 May
W 35-21 v Italy Salta 11 Jun
W 29-30 v Italy Cordoba 17 Jun
L 23-34 v South Africa Buenos Aires 5 Nov
W 23-19 v Scotland Murrayfield 12 Nov
W 39-22 v Italy Genova 19 Nov
L 12-28 v Samoa Buenos Aires 3 Dec

W 27-25 v Wales Puerto Madryn 11 Jun 2006
W 45-27 v Wales Buenos Aires 17 Jun
L 19-25 v New Zealand Buenos Aires 24 Jun
W 60-13 v Chile	Santiago 1 Jul
W 26-0 v Uruguay Buenos Aires 8 Jul
W 25-18 v England Twickenham 11 Nov (Maiden win in England)
W 23-16 v Italy Rome 18 Nov
L 26-27 v France Stade de France 25 Nov

W 22-20 v Ireland Santa Fe 26 May 2007
W 16-0	v Ireland Buenos Aires 2 Jun
W 24-6 v Italy	Mendoza	9 Jun
L 20-27 v Wales Millennium Stadium 18 Aug
W 17-12 v France Stade de France 7 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup
W 33-3 v Georgia Lyon 11 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup
W 63-3 v Namibia Marseille 22 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup
W 30-15 v Ireland Parc des Princes 30 Sep 2007 Rugby World Cup
W 19-13 v Scotland Stade de France 7 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup
L 13-37 v South Africa Stade de France 14 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup
W 34-10 v France Parc des Princes 19 Oct 2007 Rugby World Cup

Honours

• Rugby World Cup
  • Third Place: 2007
• PARA Pan American Championship
  • Champions: 2001, 2003
• South American Rugby Championship
  • Champions: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006

1. Maiden test win in England in 2006.
2. First home test win over France (who won the Grand Slam that year) in 2002 since 1986, then a maiden test series win over France in 2003, first test win on French soil since 1992 and two test wins over France during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
3. Maiden home win over Ireland in 2000 and then a maiden series win over Ireland in 2007.
4. First test win in Italy since 1978.
5. Maiden test win in Wales in 2000, then maiden home win over Wales in 2004.

References

1. Loffreda named as new Tigers boss - BBC News, April 25, 2007
2. "Ruge por Loffreda". edant.ole.com.ar. Retrieved 2019-08-15.