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South Africa recovered from losing the battle of Santiago del Estero to win the war against Argentina. The Springboks defeated Los Pumas 48-07 in Nelspruit to secure the 2024 Rugby Championship. What had been a lot closer became a blow-out scoreline in the final 12 minutes with Argentina down to 13 men.
In addition to ending the match strongly, South Africa also started with a burst of energy. An attacking scrum forced Argentina back. Playing with advantage, South Africa spun the ball for Aphelele Fassi to repeat his early score from Santiago del Estero.
A second Springboks try came quickly too. Los Pumas defended raids from the Springboks forwards before Pieter-Steph du Toit leaped over to dot the ball down inside the try zone. Jaden Hendrikse converted both early scores for a 14-0 lead after as many minutes.
Argentina hit-back on 19 minutes. Joaquín Oviedo put Santiago Grondona through a hole. The flanker then attracted the cover defense before timing his pass to send Tomás Albornoz under the posts. Suddenly, the match was alive as a contest.
Los Pumas looked to strike again but two incidents hit them hard. First, star center Santiago Chocobares was forced off on 25 minutes after Aphelele Fassi fell awkwardly over his knee. Second, Mateo Carreras was yellow carded for making contact with Aphelele Fassi while he was in the air.
The one-man advantage saw south Africa capitalizing. Fassi and Cheslin Kolbe scored minutes apart; the latter saw Kolbe making Matías Moroni beaten by a deadly step. Not all of South Africa’s four first-half tries were converted; notwithstanding, the home side was 20 points up at the break.
Argentina had opportunities to fight back from 27-07 down in the third quarter. No points came as Los Pumas were scoreless in the second-half. One opportunity ended with Pablo Matera being red carded for shoulder to head contact in a clean-out.
South Africa were unable to take advantage this time but it all changed with a further reduction. Argentina were down to 13 men in the 68th minute. Santiago Carreras was yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.
South Africa then came to life with three late tries against a 13-man Argentina. Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jesse Kriel all finished as the final scoreline blew-out from 27-07 on 68 minutes to 48-07 on 80 minutes.
The players now return to their clubs. They will next represent they country in November with the annual end-of-year tours of Europe. Argentina face Italy, Ireland and France while South Africa take-on Scotland, England and Wales.
KEY MATCH STATISTICS   |
- The home side had 60% possession.
- South Africa gained 766 meters; Argentina gained 217.
- The Springboks made 17 clean breaks compared to 3 by Argentina.
- South Africa outperformed Argentina at the ruck by winning 98.0% of their rucks compared to Argentina’s rate of 92.9%.
- Los Pumas won 81.3% of their lineouts while the Springboks won 100%.
- South Africa conceded 7 penalties. Argentina conceded 11 plus 2 yellow cards and 1 red card.
- Jesse Kriel ran 102 meters. Cheslin Kolbe and Aphelele Fassi both made 85 and Jasper Wiese 84. Mateo Carreras and Tomás Albornoz were the top Pumas for carries with 24 meters each. Juan Martín González and Pedro Rubiolo both made 23 meters.
- 3 players were tied for top tackler with 13 each: All were Pumas: Pedro Rubiolo, Juan Martín González and Joaquín Oviedo.
- Kurt-Lee Arendse, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Grondona and Joel Sclavi all conceded 2 penalties.
- Eben Etzebeth and Matías Moroni both missed 5 tackles.
| MILESTONES |
- South Africa claimed their first Rugby Championship title since 2019.
- Eben Etzebeth overtook Victor Matfield’s Springboks record of 127 caps. As a result, no player has more South African caps than Etzebeth.
- Julián Montoya captained Argentina for the 39th time. He moved ahead of Hugo Porta who led Los Pumas in 38 test matches. Montoya is 3rd behind Agustín Creevy (51) and Lisandro Arbizu (48).
| SCORING |
SOUTH AFRICA (48)
Try (7) – A Fassi 2 (6′, 32′); PS du Toit 2 (13′, 72′); C Kolbe (38′); M Marx (68′); J Kriel (76′)
Con (5) – J Hendrikse (7′, 14′); H Pollard 3 (69′, 73′, 77′)
Pen (1) – J Hendrikse (21′)
ARGENTINA (7)
Try (1) – T Albornoz (19′)
Con (1) – T Albornoz (19′)
YC (2) – M Carreras (29′), Santiago Carreras (68′)
RC (1) – P Matera (55′)
| LINE-UPS |
SOUTH AFRICA
1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 10 Manie Libbok, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 15 Aphelele Fassi
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Lukhanyo Am
ARGENTINA
1 Thomas Gallo, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Joel Sclavi, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González (vice-capt.), 7 Santiago Grondona, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 9 Gonzalo García, 10 Tomás Albornoz, 11 Mateo Carreras, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 13 Matías Moroni, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 15 Santiago Carreras (vice-capt.)
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 22 Lucio Cinti, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía
| MATCH VIDEO |
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZ); Craig Evans (GB-WLS)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
Foul Play Review Officer: Andrew Jackson (GB-ENG)
| HEAD TO HEAD vs (1993-2024) |
South Africa Wins 33
Argentina Wins 4
Draws 1
| ARGENTINA WINS VS SOUTH AFRICA |
- Sep 21, 2024 – Argentina 29-28 South Africa (Santiago del Estero, AR)
- Aug 25, 2018 – Argentina 32-19 South Africa (Mendoza, AR)
- Aug 27, 2016 – Argentina 26-24 South Africa (Salta, AR)
- Aug 08, 2015 – South Africa 25-37 Argentina (Durban, ZA)
