Controversial call costs Argentina in South Africa

A controversial referee call cost Argentina a win this afternoon in South Africa. With the home team having been leading 21-18 a 75th minute try was disallowed by Luke Pearce with South Africa instead being a awarded a penalty. South Africa would win the match 24-18.

The play in question saw replacement Benjamín Urdapilleta chipping over the defense and regathering. One phase later center Lucas Mensa would break the defense and score under the posts. Pearce requested a replay from which he deemed Jerónimo de la Fuente to have obstructed retreating prop Vincent Koch.

The call could have gone to either team though Pearce opted to favor the defensive side. Earlier in the half he had made the same call by deciding against awarding a penalty try after Cobus Reinach pushed Joaquín Tuculet while in the air attempting to gather a kick to score.

Despite the controversial second half refereeing the match was one that looked like Argentina should not still be in after the early proceedings. South Africa was dominant early and able to rapidly advance into the Pumas 22.

Early chances would present themselves though they would not be taken. Instead it was not until the 18th minute until the scoring began. Elton Jantjies slotted a penalty to which Joaquín Díaz Bonilla responded seven minutes later.

The game’s opening try followed minutes later. In a superb solo score Sbu Nkosi ran down the wing to fool the Pumas defense, notably getting the better of Sebastián Cancelliere. Jantjies failed to convert which saw South Africa ahead 8-3 after 32 minutes.

Argentina’s players looked tired yet they would take a gift half time lead through Guido Petti. The second-rower, playing flanker, would latch on to a pass from Reinach and run fifty meters to score. Díaz Bonilla landed the conversion to give Los Pumas a 10-8 lead.

Argentina were the better team in the second half. They looked to have scored their second try just minutes after the resumption. A charge down and regather from Marcos Kremer saw him offloading a meter out to Cancelliere. The winger would knock-on to let the Springboks off the hook.

The inability to score would be punished in the 48th minute by the hosts. Scoring his second try was Nkosi who, again, delivered a masterstroke against Los Pumas. Beaten defensively this time was fullback Tuculet.

The converted try would be responded to by a Díaz Bonilla penalty. The 15-13 scoreline would not last though as Jantjies hit-back smartly to make it 18-13.

Los Pumas wanted the win and their captain, Pablo Matera would get the side back level. Following a near miss Argentina would set-up an attacking play from a lineout in which Matera would be the first receiver in the backs and barge his way over.

Jantjies restored the lead for South Africa with a penalty. Then came the controversial referee call which saw magic vision from Benjamín Urdapilleta and Lucas Mensa denied seven points.

The Castres fly half took an up-and-under from Faf de Klerk, spun to get past a chasing Sbu. With five defenders in front of him her chipped over and gathered before offloading to Santiago Carreras who defeated one further defender in a 15 meter carry.

Quick ball saw Gonzalo Bertranou passing to Urdapilleta who, in turn, passed to Mensa. The debutant Puma stepped off both feet to beat three defenders and score. Pearce went back to check Urdapilleta’s kick and deemed Jerónimo de la Fuente to have impeded Vincent Koch. de la Fuente did not change his position, Urdapilleta did not use de la Fuente to get away from Koch, and Koch had already been beaten with Urdapilleta out of his reach.

South Africa would be let off and would go on to score three further points via Jantjies. With it the Springboks completed back-to-back wins over Argentina to look strong for RWC 2019.

 

SCORING

SOUTH AFRICA
Try: Nkosi (2)
Conversion: Jantjies
Penalty: Jantjies (4)

ARGENTINA
Try: Petti, Matera
Conversion: Díaz Bonilla
Penalty: Díaz Bonilla, Urdapilleta

TEAMS

SOUTH AFRICA
1 Thomas du Toit, 2 Schalk Brits (capt.), 3 Vincent Koch, 4 RG Snyman, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Siya Kolisi, 7 Rynharddt Elstadt, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 9 Cobus Reinach, 10 Elton Jantjies, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 12 André Esterhuizen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 15 Warrick Gelant

Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Frans Steyn

ARGENTINA
1 Mayco Vivas, 2 Julián Montoya, 3 Santiago Medrano, 4 Guido Petti, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera (capt.), 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 12 Lucas Mensa, 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Benjamín Urdapilleta, 23 Santiago Carreras