They made it harder for themselves than it should have been but ultimately the Springboks were able to survive a late Argentina fightback to clinch the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title with a 29-27 win at Twickenham.
It was another historic moment for the Boks of this era as it was the first time that South Africa has ever won the SANZAAR international competition back to back.When the All Blacks beat Australia with a bonus point earlier in the day it set up the London game as a decider, with Siya Kolisi’s team needing to win in order to edge ahead of their great rivals.
That they did it in the end only on points differential and not by winning with a bonus point try was down to the Boks becoming a bit loose in the final quarter of an hour and giving the Pumas some room to breathe.
The game was dead and buried when the Boks scored 26 unanswered points, starting with the try just before halftime to man of the match Cobus Reinach, thus enabling the South Africans to narrow what had been a 10 deficit, to go into a 29-13 lead. However, Cheslin Kolbe, like he did in the Durban game last week, gave the Pumas a gift of a try when he threw out a long pass inside his own half that bounced into the hands of Argentina wing Bautista Delguy.
NERVES AND INDISCIPLINE EVIDENT IN FINAL QUARTER
That cut the Bok lead to nine and suddenly there were some nerves, as well as some indiscipline, that crept into the Bok game. Had Argentina’s ace place-kicker Santiago Carreras nailed an easily kickable penalty three minutes from time, the final minutes might have been even more nervy for the Boks as it would have brought Argentina back into scoring range.
As it was though the final Argentina try, which came through Rodrigo Isco running onto a cross kick off the last move of the game, was really just a consolation effort as it came with the Boks leading by nine points and not in a position where they could lose at that point. Still, coach Rassie Erasmus will be right to be concerned by the poor game management that blighted those last minutes for his team.
There might also be some concern at the tendency for the Boks to start off slowly, with the opening half of this match being the fourth first half in a row where the execution was short of where it should have been.
The Pumas started out by being impressive with their ball carrying, and that pressure was compounded when Canan Moodie was yellow carded after just two minutes for an illegal tackle. Playing against 14-men, the Pumas scored a good try to Delguy and they were off to a strong start that would have infused them with confidence.
Indeed, while the Boks dominated the set-scrums, and forced numerous scrum penalties, and just nonchalantly pushed the Argentinians off the ball in the second try of the game, the Boks battled to keep the ball in the first half an hour. A Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty brought the Boks back to within four points after 10 minutes but the next two penalties kicked came from Carreras as the nominal home team built up a 13-3 lead.
ANOTHER CRUCIAL TRY JUST BEFORE THE BREAK
Like the previous week in Durban, however, the Boks scored an important try just short of halftime, with a series of dominant scrums near the Pumas line, with the Boks opting to scrum penalties, leading to Reinach going over for his team’s first five pointer. Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s conversion made it 13-10 and the Boks were back in it and looked like they had the momentum.
That momentum continued in the third quarter, which started with another scrum penalty and also a yellow card to Pumas loosehead prop Mayco Vivos for a high tackle. A penalty set up an attacking lineout and from there Malcolm Marx, who should in my book have been at least joint man of the match with Reinach, swivelled over in the corner. That try put the Boks into the lead for the first time at 15-13 and that grew to 22-13 when Reinach reached out to dot down his second try in the 52nd minute. At that point the Boks were completely dominant, and had scored 19 unanswered points, and that became 26 when Marx dotted down his second as he drove over the line after creating that attacking situation by running onto a Pumas lineout tap back near their line.
At 29-13, a lead of 16 points and just 22 minutes to go, that looked like that was it for the game as a contest. But then came Kolbe’s pass that Delguy seized upon and it set up a much closer end scoreline than what realistically the Bok dominance on the day warranted.
A two-point win looks a narrow squeak, but the reality was that the Boks had it in hand before those final minutes, although had Carreras not hit the post with his final penalty attempt it would have been a nervy end.
SCORES
South Africa 29 - Tries: Cobus Reinach 2 and Malcolm Marx 2; Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3; Penalty: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Argentina 27 - Tries: Bautista Delguy 2 and Rodrigo Isco; Conversions Santiago Carreras 3; Penalties: Santiago Carreras 3.