Pumas earn famous victory in Durban

Argentina celebrated the 50th anniversary of their inaugural tour to South Africa with a stirring 37-25 victory at Kings Park in Durban, in doing so becoming the first Pumas side to beat the Springboks on any ground. The result has also made a clear statement to the rugby world – Argentina will be serious competition for any side at the upcoming World Cup.

The track suits had barely been peeled off when Jerónimo de la Fuente popped a lovely inside ball to Juan Imhoff, and the winger found Marcelo Bosch in support to score a sensational try and put the crowd in shock. Juan Martín Hernández capped it off with the conversion and the Pumas were away.

Handré Pollard got the Springboks on the board in the 10th minute after a rare scrum penalty against Marcos Ayerza, but it was Argentina who would strike next. Hernández just missed from a field goal attempt, and then from a penalty kick, but Tomás Cubelli insured that the points would get on the board. The nippy halfback spun out of a tackle and offloaded, and it was Imhoff himself who took the honours.

Some sloppy play at the breakdown gave Pollard a second penalty goal, just to settle the South African nerves. Argentina were in a try-scoring mood, however, and Imhoff touched down again after Leonardo Senatore picked from a dominant scrum, with Cubelli acting as link man to finish the two-on-one. Hernández nailed the brilliant sideline conversion and the Springboks were reeling.

South Africa finally got over the paint from a lineout near halftime. Lood de Jager peeled off the front and stretched his long arm out to touch down and seemingly bring the home team back into the game. As if in defiance, Argentina squeezed two penalty goals in before they headed to the dressing rooms. First Hernández capitalised on some casual play right off the kickoff, and then a long-range effort from Bosch gave the Pumas a commanding 14 point lead heading into the intermission.

An extraordinary moment came in the 42nd minute when a penalty against the Springboks was whistled dead by referee Romain Poite, but with South Africa unawares and medical staff still on the field he restarted play. Hernández quickly tapped and passed the ball for Imhoff to dive over for his hat trick. Jean de Villiers protested but Poite would have nothing of it, and Hernández added to the sting with another successful kick from the sideline.

The moment of confusion seemed to spur South Africa on, and a some great stepping and an offload from Jesse Kriel put Willie le Roux away down the sideline, the fullback finishing well to give his country a little hope. Pollard’s conversion put back within two scores, and the crowd began to make some noise again.

Cheers shrank to murmurs when Bosch snapped a drop goal over to extend the lead back to three scores. Things when from bad to worse when Marcell Coetzee limped off, with only Lwazi Mvovo available to replace him. Damien de Allende was forced to move to the back row for the final quarter of an hour.

Another bizarre moment came in the 74th minute, when what looked like a good try for Cobus Reinach was called back, with the quick tap ruled to be taken ahead of the mark. From the ensuing passage Pablo Matera was sent to the bin for repeat infringements, and eventually Bryan Habana crossed in the corner, but it was all for nought as the gap was too great for the Springboks to overcome.

SOUTH AFRICA 25
Tries – L. de Jager (35), W. le Roux (49), B. Habana (78)
Cons – H. Pollard 2 (36, 50)
Pens – H. Pollard 2 (10, 28)

ARGENTINA 37
Tries – J. Imhoff 3 (22, 31, 42), M. Bosch (2)
Cons – J. Hernández 4 (2, 23, 32, 43)
Pens – J. Hernández (38), M. Bosch (40)
Drops – M. Bosch (63)
Yellow cards – P. Matera (76)

SOUTH AFRICA
1 T. Mtawarira (T. Nyakane 62) 2 B. du Plessis (A. Strauss 56) 3 V. Koch (M. van der Merwe HT) 4 E. Etzebeth (P. du Toit 62) 5 L. de Jager 6 H. Brüssow (S. Kolisi 63) 7 M. Coetzee (L. Mvovo 66) 8 S. Burger 9 R. Pienaar (C. Reinach 60) 10 H. Pollard (P. Lambie 65) 11 B. Habana 12 D. de Allende 13 J. de Villiers (capt.) 14 J. Kriel 15 W. le Roux

ARGENTINA
1 M. Ayerza (L. Noguera Paz 52) 2 A. Creevy (capt.) (J. Montoya 67) 3 N. Tetaz Chaparro (M. Díaz 71) 4 G. Petti (M. Alemanno 56) 5 T. Lavanini 6 P. Matera 7 J. Leguizamón (T. Lezana 66) 8 L. Senatore 9 T. Cubelli (M. Landajo 66) 10 J. Hernández (L. González Amorosino 65) 11 J. Imhoff 12 J. de la Fuente (S. González Iglesias 55) 13 M. Bosch 14 H. Agulla 15 J. Tuculet