The touring party was composed almost entirely of players from the Argentina national rugby union team and included all but one of the players who had played for Argentina in a drawn series with Australia in 1979. The touring party numbered twenty-six players, of whom one came from Brazil, one from Chile, one from Uruguay and one from Paraguay. The other twenty-two players came from Argentina, including the captain, Hugo Porta. Porta was asked to return to South Africa later that year to play for the South African Barbarians against the touring 1980 British Lions.