Marcelo Loffreda 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. He played much of his career outside the legendary Hugo Porta and scored 4 test tries. 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. Loffreda graduated in civil engineering at Universidad de Buenos Aires and was sales manager for Argentine textile and footwear company Alpargatas. He is married with five children: Sophia, Nicolas, Juana, Olivia and Marina 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 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 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 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 Sep2007Rugby 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
First home test win over France 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.
Maiden home win over Ireland in 2000 and then a maiden series win over Ireland in 2007.
First test win in Italy since 1978.
Maiden test win in Wales in 2000, then maiden home win over Wales in 2004.
