Santiago Phelan

Who is Santiago Phelan?

Santiago Phelan is a retired Argentine rugby union footballer. His usual position was flanker.

Phelan played for Argentine club Club Atlético San Isidro and represented the Argentina national rugby union team on 44 occasions, captaining the team twice. He represented Argentina at the 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups. Phelan retired due to injury in 2003 at the age of 29, he has since taken up coaching.

On March 13, 2008, Phelan was named as the coach of the Argentine rugby union team, filling the vacancy left by Marcelo Loffreda.

On October 21 2013, Phelan stepped down from his post as Los Pumas head coach with immediate effect, one year early from the end of his contract. Over the 45 matches that he coached, he earned 13 wins, 31 defeats and 1 draw in his 5 year tenture. Since talking over in 2008, he has rarely earned successes. Argentina failed to get a test series victory under Phelan, with a draw against Scotland in 2008 and England in 2009, before losing 2-0 to Scotland in 2010.