Pumas mbombed: Springboks run in a hele seven tries to blow away Argentina in Mbombela
The Springboks blew the roof off of Mbombela Stadium as they celebrated Eben Etzebeth’s record 128th Test cap with a 48-7 win over Argentina to win the Rugby Championship.
It was a performance worthy of being crowned as the best team in the southern hemisphere, after the Boks rocked up to Mbombela with their title hopes under threat after Los Pumas beat them 29-28 the previous week in Santiago del Estero.
‘Pressure? What pressure?’ asked captain Siya Kolisi’s manne as South Africa got into their work early by breaking the Argies at scrum-time before hitting the lead through a Aphelele Fassi try after seven minutes (7-0).
More pressure in the scrums led to penalties that helped the Boks piggy-back themselves back into Argentina’s half and after some relentless picking and going, Man of the Match Pieter-Steph du Toit dotted down for a 14-0 lead.
Los Pumas are, however, known for making errors early in games before they roar back.
And when a brilliant midfield move saw flyhalf Tomaz Albornoz score and convert to make it 14-7 after 19 minutes a bit of a hush fell over the Nelspruit crowd.
Jaden Hendrikse, however, put South Africa up 17-7 with a penalty shortly afterward, before Los Pumas’ good discipline of not conceding yellow cards or red cards throughout this year’s tournament came crashing down.
Mateao Carerras got sin-binned for playing Fassi in the air trying to contest a high-ball and the Boks took full advantage as Fassi score his second five-pointer (22-7).
And three minutes before half-time Cheslin Kolbe got his reward for making the Argies defence paap with his hot-stepping to score the Boks’ fourth (27-7).
The first 20 minutes of the second half was a bit of a seesaw battle – with first South Africa dropping balls on attack before Los Pumas also wasted opportunities to get back into the game.
But when Pablo Matera got sent off (yellow carded turned to red) for a dangerous clear out on Vincent Koch and Santiago Carreras’ seeing yellow for slapping the ball down, the Boks hit beast mode as first Malcolm Marx then Du Toit with his second and Jesse Kriel all scored to get the party started.
Fassi: “It’s an honour and privilege to play with guys like Eben, Siya, Pieter-Steph and so many other of the senior players ... they drive me to work harder and inspire me” - more here: https://t.co/hhH6azuapa 👏#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/JxxwyfeGRs
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 30, 2024
SA 48 (27) – Tries: Aphelele Fassi (2), Pieter-Steph du Toit (2), Cheslin Kolbe, Malcolm Marx, Jesse Kriel; Conversions: Jaden Hendrikse (3), Handré Pollard (3); Penalty: Hendrikse
Argentina 7 (7) – Try: Tomas Albornoz; Conversion: Albornoz
francois.dewet@inl.co.za