Pumas celebrate with legend Maradona

Pumas celebrate with legend Maradona

  • Pumas celebrate with football legend Diego Maradona
  • Crucial 45-16 win over Tonga in the World Cup just about confirms place in the quarter-finals
  • Nicolas Sanchez stole the show with a man of the match performance

Argentinean football legend Diego Maradona was on hand to lead the celebrations of his rugby counterparts after their crucial win over Tonga in the World Cup.

The Pumas thrashed their opponents 45-16 in Leicester, and the former Napoli striker could be seen dancing around the changing room after the game.

Maradona has never been one to shy away from the cameras and showed no restraint watching his beloved Argentina, which was followed by singing and dancing with the players.

For sporting fans across the world, it brought back memories of the 2006 football World Cup, where he cheered on his compatriots from the stands, before managing them four years later in South Africa.

By many he is still considered the greatest footballer ever to grace the field and is perhaps remembered best for his “hand of god” moment which knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.



Onlookers said the former player, capped 91 times for his country, was leading chants in the stands in the pivotal game.

On the field, Nicolas Sanchez stole the show with a man of the match performances against Tonga, after an excellent display with the boot and with the ball in his hands.

The fly-half converted four tries, four penalties and scored a try of his own, putting in an exceptional performance, one that the onlooking Maradona was clearly impressed with.

Julian Montoya, Joaquin Truculet, Juan Imhoff, and Santiago Cordero also crossed the line for the Pumas, as did Soane Tonga’uiha and Kurt Morath for Tonga in the group c matchup.

The win moves Argentina up to second in the table behind favourites New Zealand, while their opponents are in third.  Georgia and Namibia are the other two teams in the group.

With the Argentineans on the verge of the quarter-finals of the World Cup, it was good to see a true great of the sporting world show some real passion to the sport.