Los Pumas down shell-shocked Springboks in Santiago thriller to ...

Argentina have now beaten all three Rugby Championship opponents after they triumphed over the Springboks 29-28 in Santiago. 

The hosts scored four tries on the day with Mateo Carreras, Pablo Matera, Joel Sclavi and Tomas Albornoz scoring with the fly-half also kicking three conversions and a penalty in an epic shift.

Meanwhile, South Africa managed three tries in Santiago through Aphelele Fassi, Jesse Kriel and Cobus Reinach with Handre Pollard kicking two penalties and two conversions. Manie Libbok also kicked a penalty.

The Springboks were very fast out of the gates with Fassi scoring in just the third minute thanks to a lovely Pollard pass with the fly-half adding the extras as he would four minutes after that when Kriel cantered through giving the visitors a dream start.

Looking to compound the pressure, the Springboks kicked a penalty through Pollard in the 12th minute to take a commanding lead early with the world champions expecting to pull away but that was not the case.

Los Pumas burst into life and played Carreras in down the left hand side for the first try from the hosts in the 14th minute as Albornoz got his kick. Argentina would exploit the same side with Kurt-Lee Arendse in the sin bin seven minutes later this time Matera crossing the white whitewash for a converted try.

The onslaught did not stop there as Sclavi (26”) and Albornoz (34”) both scored tries, one of which was converted, to suddenly shoot Los Pumas into a strong position. The Springboks needed to stop the bleeding and Reinach showed his awareness and experience to score in the corner from a quick tap taking the sides into half-time after Pollard missed the conversions.

The second-half would not follow the same rate of scoring although Pollard did kick a penalty in the 43rd minute and Libbok in the 50th minute as the Springboks looked to slow the game down and take control.

The visitor’s control of the game did improve but not enough to make further difference on the scoreboard opening the door for Albornoz to kick the decisive penalty in the 68th minute.

The last minutes were filled with nerves as Libbok had a chance to win in from the tee in the dying minutes but he pulled his kick handing Los Pumas a famous victory in Santiago.

This sets up a massive battle in Nelspruit next weekend where the same side will slug it out for the Rugby Championship title.

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Gudio Petti, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Matias Moroni

South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Manie Libbok

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