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South Africa edged Argentina in a brutal contest on Saturday. The Springboks were 22-21 winners in a match in which Argentina missed three kicks at goal and was on top in the second-half. The teams put on match of note. Both teams played elite-level rugby. There is reason to suggest that both have the means to be highly competitive at Rugby World Cup 2023.
Argentina kicked long to begin the contest. Fullback Juan Cruz Mallía charged down Grand Williams’ kick and in the process the Puma knocked out the Springbok. Faf de Klerk was brought on as a replacement after 31 seconds. Meanwhile, Argentina had won a penalty for South Africa holding-on following the charge-down.
Argentina attacked through the forwards and won a second penalty. In his first ever kick at goal for Los Pumas Santiago Carreras gave Argentina a 3-0 lead after 3 minutes. The good Pumas start was almost for nothing. South Africa blew a gift try. This time it was Mallía who was charged-down. Jesse Kriel knocked-on the ball inside Los Pumas’ try zone.
The second point scorer was the same as the first; Santiago Carreras made it 6-0 after 10 minutes. However, again Argentina were sloppy from the re-start. South Africa gathered a loose ball and attacked. They won a penalty five meters from the try line from in-front. Marie Libbok landed the simple kick at goal.
South Africa went ahead at the close of the opening quarter. Attacking on the opposition try line gave the home side an edge to surprise. It came with Eben Etzebeth lurking on the wing. A brilliant pass from Willie Le Roux saw Etzebeth running over Santiago Carreras to score in the corner. It came as a double blow as Tomás Albornoz came on to temporarily replace Carreras.
The Springboks came to life following the try. Having won a penalty from a maul in their own half, the South Africans kicked for the corner to set-up a lineout to maul attack. A twelve man maul resulted with center Damian de Allende scoring.
Santiago Carreras returned while Julián Montoya was also off to be assessed. The Argentine fly half made it a 15-9 scoreline with under 2 minutes remaining in the first-half. Montoya then returned and was followed by Pedro Rubiolo. Second-rower Lucas Paulos was knocked-out; he took a hard blow of a knee to his head while attempting the tackle.
The loss of Paulos sounded second-row Alarm bells. Guido Petti is yet to play in 2023, Matías Alemanno will not play again before the World Cup while Marcos Kremer is suspended until days before Argentina’s final warm-up match against Spain.
South Africa had 206 carried meters in the first half; Argentina had 42. Yet, South Africa made 55 passes and Argentina 60. The numbers highlight the physicality as do the turn-overs with South Africa winning 3 and Argentina 8. This statistic indicates how well Los Pumas defended .
The second-half opened with the Springboks hot on attack. Santiago Chocobares saved a try with an excellent tackle on Marvin Orie. He then delivered another to send South Africa backwards. Los Pumas won a penalty with Carreras narrowly missing. Ultimately, Argentina had the better of play in the third quarter with neither team scoring points.
A second missed penalty prevented the teams from being locked-in at 15-15 to open the final quarter. Something had to give. Argentina continued attacking in the opposition half only for a loose ball to be gathered and give the Springboks a 14-point try. The try against the run of play sealed the win.
Argentina were cross with themselves. The fired-up visitors got their try. Replacement Matías Moroni screamed for the ball. He was tackled a meter short and passed off the floor to Mateo Carreras for a double team from the Newcastle Falcons duo.
Los Pumas scored again to end the match at 22-21. The forwards went close on multiple occasions before Gonzalo Bertranou darted over for a simple score. His impact changed the match, giving Los Pumas improved service from the base.
The teams meet again next weekend. The match falls outside of the Rugby Championship. Taking place in Buenos Aires it will be Argentina’s farewell before traveling to Europe for the World Cup.
South Africa go in to Rugby World Cup 2023 as the defending champions. They will again be title contenders but so too will Argentina. There has been no shortage of talk over the pools with Argentina being on the easy side. Julián Montoya and his teammates will be targeting history.
SCORING
SOUTH AFRICA (22)
Try – E Etzebeth (19’); D de Allende (27’), M Libbok (70’)
Con – M Libbok 2/3 (28’, 71’)
Pen – M Libbok 1/1 (12’)
YC – D de Allende (72’)
ARGENTINA (21)
Try – M Carreras (75’); G Bertranou (80′)
Con – S Carreras 1/1 (80′)
Pen – S Carreras 3/5 (3’, 10’, 39’)
TEAMS
SOUTH AFRICA
1 Steven Kitshoff, 2, Malcom Marx, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Marvin Orie, 6 Marco van Staden, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Duane Vermeulen (capt.), 9 Grant Williams, 10 Manie Libbok, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 15 Willie Le Roux
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Lukhanyo Am, 23 Damian Willemse
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Francisco Gómez Kodela, 4 Lucas Paulos, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Santiago Grondona, 8 Juan Martín González, 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Juan Imhoff, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Lucio Cinti, 14 Mateo Carreras, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Matías Moroni
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Andrew Brace (IE)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GE) & Chris Busby (IE)
TMO: Brett Cronan (AU)
