South Africa beat Argentina to retain Rugby Championship title

The mighty Springbok pack turned on the power in the second half as South Africa beat Argentina 29-27 at Twickenham on Saturday to retain the Rugby Championship for the first time, ahead of New Zealand on points difference.

The All Blacks’ 28-14 bonus-point win over Australia in Perth earlier meant South Africa needed a bonus-point victory to win the title with clear water, though their overwhelming points advantage meant that any win would be enough.

After an error-strewn start, however, they trailed 13-3 and 13-10 at halftime before forward drives set up two tries by Malcolm Marx and a second for Cobus Reinach to put them 29-13 ahead.

Late scores for the Pumas made the scoreboard close but it was South Africa’s day as they claimed the title for a sixth time. They and New Zealand finished on 19 points, but South Africa’s points difference was plus-57 to the All Blacks’ plus-eight. Australia ended on 11 points and Argentina 10.

“It’s unreal, we spoke about it (lifting the trophy) the whole week,” man-of-the-match Reinach said. “We had not won it back-to-back before. We still have a lot of improvements to make, but we are getting there.

“We knew we would not just run out here and roll over them. It takes teams 60 or 70 minutes (to break the opposition down) and Argentina are unreal. They have a lot of dog in them, they keep fighting all game.”

The match at Twickenham was officially a home game for Argentina, and what they lost in support they will gain in finance via their share of the 70,300 gate receipts.

They took an early 7-0 lead via a brilliant finish by winger Bautista Delguy and though South Africa had much possession and a dominant scrum, they made a series of handling errors.

That kept them 13-3 down late in the first half after two penalties by Santiago Carreras, switched from flyhalf to fullback after last week’s pummelling in Durban.

The Springboks’ dominant scrum, however, eventually paid dividends, earning a series of penalties on the Argentina line before scrumhalf Reinach found a gap to reduce the deficit to 13-10 at the break. A week ago South Africa led the Pumas 25-23 at halftime but poured on the power to win 67-30 and for a while it looked as if a repeat might be on the cards.

Argentina prop Mayco Vivas was yellow-carded for a high hit after 43 minutes and the South African pack took immediate advantage to bundle Marx over.

A relentless series of attacks again made space for Reinach to slip through for his second and another forward drive ended with Marx also claiming a second as South Africa seemed to have taken total control at 29-13.

Delguy snatched an interception try after 65 minutes but when Carreras struck the post with a penalty three minutes from time, the destination of the trophy was assured.

Argentina replacement Rodrigo Isgro had the last word when he caught a lovely wide kick by Carreras to score in the corner but the vast majority of the crowd in green were already celebrating as Carreras’s conversion sailed between the posts.

“I think it wasn’t a game that got away because we weren’t winning and we lost it,” said Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi. “We fought to the end, I think we played some good rugby, we stayed in the game.

“We also tried to play a dynamic, fast game. At times, it worked. There were things that we would have liked to be a little better - the scrum - but we know that they are the best team in the world in that.

“So congratulations. I think the team that won the tournament is the team that played better, that took advantage of the opportunities, and I think they were the best team today. There is no doubt about that.”

Agencies