Argentina shock South Africa in 29-28 win. In a scorching Santiago del Estero on Saturday, flyhalf Tomas Albornoz scored a penalty kick 11 minutes into the game to give Argentina a thrilling 29-28 victory against South Africa and maintain their hopes of winning the Rugby Championship.
World champion Springboks lead the table with 19 points, ahead of Argentina in second place with 14 points. The two teams will play a final match in Nelspruit on Saturday to determine the title. Flyhalf Manie Libbok had a late penalty to win the match, but he missed it.
Argentina took advantage of visiting wing Kurt-Lee Arendse’s first-half yellow card to score four tries through wing Mateo Carreras, flanker Pablo Matera, prop Joel Sclavi, and Albornoz. This allowed them to transform a 17-0 deficit into a 26-22 halftime lead. South Africa, who had rested a number of regulars and made ten changes to their lineup, lost the tournament for the first time despite tries from scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, centre Jesse Kriel, and fullback Aphelele Fassi.
Though Argentina has demonstrated that it is far from a done deal, South Africa will have to wait an additional week to win a sixth Southern Hemisphere title and will undoubtedly require a point from the encounter in Nelspruit. Salmaan Moerat, the interim captain of South Africa, congratulated Argentina on their perseverance and lack of giving up. “We played good rugby for the majority of the game, even though they put a lot of pressure on us.”
“We have to keep up the pressure. In the game, there were moments when we lost interest. We will focus mostly on it starting next week. After the Springboks destroyed Argentina in the opening scrum, an easy backline move allowed Fassi to cross the tryline with ease as the home team’s defence gave way.
After more deft handling that allowed Kriel to get into a space beneath the posts, they scored their second try. Argentina eventually managed to get their hands on the ball and scored an incredible try, but flyhalf Handre Pollard added three more points. News for The Daily Rugby
The left wing defence was breached by some deft backline play, allowing Carreras to cross for a converted goal. After then, the game took a different turn, and the Springboks’ case was not aided by Arendse’s risky tackle, which resulted in a yellow card.
Almost just as they did in their first try, Argentina scored their second, with Matera crossing after some superb hands created space on the left flank. While Arendse was still off the pitch, the home team scored their third goal when Sclavi barged over during an offensive line-out, giving them a 19–17 lead.
As the rampaging Argentines opened up a breach in the increasingly vulnerable Springboks defence, Albornoz scored their fourth try. Just before the half, Reinach sprinted over in the corner after taking a short touch from a penalty, giving the visitors their first real impetus back. However, at the interval, they were behind 26–22.
Ten minutes into the second half, both Pollard and his substitute, Libbok, scored penalties to put the Springboks back up. However, Los Pumas managed to cling on for their third victory of the Championship after Argentina’s Albornoz gave them the lead with eleven minutes remaining. After starting from the bench, Eben Etzebeth achieved a record-tying 127 Springbok caps, tying Victor Matfield for the most all-time.
