Ángel Guastella (

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, 7 November 1931 -

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

, 26 September 2016) was an Argentine

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer and coach. He played as

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

Biography

Guastella was a founding member of

Club Pueyrredón Club Pueyrredón is an Argentine sports club from the Benavídez district of Tigre Partido in Greater Buenos Aires. The rugby union senior squad currently plays in Primera División A, the second division of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires (URB ...

, of which he was a player for 10 years and then, a coach. In 2000, Guastella moved to

, where he spent his last years of life, being chairman of Tucumán Lawn Tennis Club and of Unión de Rugby de Tucumán.

Career

Guastella was an Argentine international with the Pumas between 1956 and 1960. He was first capped during a match against an Oxford and Cambridge XV in

, on 16 September 1956. His last cap was during the test against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in Buenos Aires, on 6 August 1960. In his international career, Guastella played 4 matches and scored 1 penalty and 6 points in aggregate.

Coaching career

Guastella came to the Argentina national team along with Alberto Camardón, with both being assistants for the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n coach

Izak van Heerden Izak van Heerden (August 1910 – June Bath, p 172) was a South African rugby union coach, and player, remembered for his successes with the Argentina national team and the Natal Province team for his unconventional, fast-moving style. His tact ...

in 1964. After the historical 1965 tour in South Africa, van Heerden remained in his home country and Guastella was named as his substitute in 1965. As coach, he won four

South American Rugby Championship The South American Rugby Championship refers to the continental rugby union championships for South America, organized by Sudamérica Rugby. The current name of the championships is ''South American Six Nations'', implemented in 2018. South Ameri ...

s and resigned in 1973. Later, in 1978, he accepted the offer to return to coach Argentina, with his assistants being José Imhoff and Aitor Otaño. In this last stage, Guastella decided to build a new team from scratch: first, naming

Hugo Porta Hugo Porta (born 11 September 1951) is an Argentine retired rugby union player. Considered one of the best fly-halves the sport has seen, he is an inductee of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and IRB Hall of Fame. During the 1970s and ...

as captain, later, calling up the veteran Héctor Silva and young players such as Marcelo Campo, Alejandro Iachetti, Marcelo Loffreda,

Rafael Madero Rafael M. Madero (born 16 July 1958 in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine rugby union player and coach. He played as a fullback, center, and fly-half. Career Starting his career in the SIC, Madero played for the team until 1990; as a wing, centr ...

, Tomás Petersen and Gabriel Travaglini.

As assistant coach

Between 1985 and 1987, as assistant coach for Héctor Silva, the Argentina achieved its first victory against France, draw against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and was eliminated from the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

pool stage. The first edition of the Rugby World Cup was Guastella's last stint with the Pumas.

Honours

;

champion: 1967, 1969, 1971 and 1973. ;

Campeonato Argentino The Campeonato Argentino de Mayores (also known as Campeonato Argentino) was an annual rugby union competition held in Argentina for provinces of Argentina, provincial teams. The Campeonato Argentino was strictly amateur, and only players from l ...

champion: 1955, 1957 and 1958.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guastella, Ángel Argentine rugby union coaches Argentina national rugby union team coaches 1945 births Argentine rugby union players Rugby union players from Buenos Aires 2016 deaths Argentina international rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves