Dominant First Half sees South Africa win in Buenos Aires

A large crowd of 50,000 gathered at Velez Sarsfeld stadium in Buenos Aires this afternoon for Argentina’s final home international of the year. With the match following last Saturday’s historic win in Durban Los Pumas were looking to give their home fans a similar send-off.

The start of the match was very promising for the South Americans as last week’s hat-trick hero, Juan Imhoff, came close to crossing in the 2nd minute. His run down the left wing was him stepping past two defenders only for second-rower Eben Etzebeth to make a try-saving tackle and send Imhoff into touch. The early miss would be one of only two near-tries by the home side.

It was all-Argentina in the subsequent minutes as South Africa was forced to defend for virtually all of the opening five minutes of play. The Springboks, though, held firm before jumping into gear. Fly half Pat Lambie gave his World Cup credentials a huge boost with his performance both as a play-maker and a goal kicker.

After Lambie and Sánchez traded penalties the Springboks made it a 6-3 game in the 17th minute, the second Springbok penalty underlining referee Glen Jackson’s strict attitude to the breakdown as he set the trend for penalizing minor offences throughout the match.

South African pressure saw Ruan Pienaar in the clear and set to score only for a last-gasp tackle from Juan Manuel Leguizamón to save a certain score. South Africa won a penalty from the resulting scrum and opted against kicking for goal. The resulting lineout was controlled and South Africa looked to score from five metres out. The raids came close and saw two further penalties before clever play opened Bryan Habana for a simple try.

Lambie landed the sideline conversion which made it 13-3 after 27 minutes and with South Africa well in control a second try followed three minutes later with Lwazi Mvovo catching Argentina’s drift-defense unprepared. Lambie was again on target to add the extras.

Now trailing 20-3 Argentina hit back through Sánchez whose added two further penalties to close out the half. South Africa looked to score again before the close when deep in Argentine territory only for Eben Etzebeth to take out Tomás Lezana around the throat. The incident went to the TMO but a yellow card was turned down by Jackson.

Hourcade made changes in looking to keep his players fresh. This included captain Agustín Creevy being substituted by the young Julián Montoya. South Africa, though, started well with Lambie seizing the opportunity to land a drop-goal. The early three-pointer was followed by a penalty four minutes later to give South Africa a 30-9 lead. Argentina narrowed the deficit through Sánchez but neither team was able to score thereafter.

South Africa continued to have the better of Argentina at the set-piece and to send forwards through channels but Argentina, ultimately, did not leak additional points. A prime opportunity came when Tomás Lavanini was yellow carded for clearly out a ruck without the use of his arms. The 63rd minute incident came at a vital time but Argentina was able to hold-off the South African attack.

Coaches of both teams now need to analyze their players to confirm their squads for the World Cup. Plenty of final choices are to remain after the differing performances from the teams over the past eight days.

Argentina open against New Zealand on the third day of the World Cup in London while South Africa will face Japan in Brighton on day two. Both countries are expected to make it out of their respective pools into the Quarter Finals.

Scorers

Argentina
Penalties: Sánchez (4)

South Africa
Tries: Habana, Mvovo
Conversions: Lambie (2)
Penalties: Lambie (3)
Drop-goal: Lambie

Argentina
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Agustín Creevy (Captain), 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 4 Benjamín Macome, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 6 Tomas Lezana, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Santiago Cordero, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

Head Coach: Daniel Hourcade

South Africa
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield (Captain), 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane

16 Schalk Brits, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Jan Serfontein