Argentina have claimed their first ever win in South Africa, relegating the Springboks to the wooden spoon in the Rugby Championship. The Pumas rode a dominant scrum, some inventive first phase play, and intensity in contact to register a deserved 37-25 victory in Durban.
The Pumas and the Boks play fairly similar styles, and while this was Argentina’s first RC win over South Africa, three of the last five meetings between these teams have seen the Boks triumph by seven or less, and one was drawn.
The match was also notable for some really mediocre refereeing by Frenchman Romain Poite, who is due to take charge of the Australia v England fixture at the World Cup. A couple of key calls went in the Pumas favour, before he largely lost control of the match in the closing stages.
The Boks, however, made far too many unforced errors and looked largely ineffective in attack. The biggest mistake the team management could make would be to point the finger at Poite rather than the team’s own shortcomings. Both teams were still experimenting a little on the personnel front, with none of the Puma replacement forwards older than 23. So that can’t be used as an excuse either.
First Half
The Pumas started well, with a nice inside pass to the impressive Juan Imhoff opening the Boks up. Imhoff found Marcelo Bosch running a nice support line for the first try, next to the posts.
Soon afterwards, Argentinian loosehead Marcos Ayerza was penalised and Handre Pollard knocked over 3 points to make it 7-3. Ayerza never looked back from that point, unleashing a torrent of power on his opposing tight-heads for the rest of the match.
The Pumas began to dominate, though Juan Martin Hernandez missed both a drop and a kickable penalty to keep the scoreboard unchanged. But with scrum penalties aplenty, scrum-half Tomas Cubelli, recently linked with the Brumbies, made an excellent dart past Eben Etzebeth on the fringe of the ruck before doing brilliantly to turn it back inside to Imhoff who scored under the sticks. Argentina 14-3.
South Africa were finding it hard to get anything vaguely resembling continuity going. They got a lifeline, however, when a Heinrich Brussow turnover led to a simple Pollard penalty.
Normal service promptly resumed, as yet another huge Pumas scrum enabled No. 8 Leonardo Senatore to pick up, head blind, and offload around two tacklers to Cubelli, who was on the same wavelength. The impressive scrummie drew and passed to the equally impressive Imhoff, who scored wide out. Another try, another conversion, yet more silence from the home crowd at Kings Park. 21-6.
Nothing was going right for South Africa. They had to go back to what they knew and they did. A line-out close to the Puma line on 36 minutes saw the exact same lineout move as against the All Blacks: the fake maul, with Lood de Jager peeling around. At Ellis Park, he came inches short; here it was just enough from the promising giant. 21-13, and the Boks were suddenly back in it.
The next three minutes of play summed up South Africa’s day. From the restart, Beast Mtawariwa lifted de Jager, and promptly obstructed the Puma chasers. Three more points. From the next restart, Pollard didn’t kick it 10 metres; Ayerza munched Vincent Koch from the ensuing scrum on half-way; and Bosch nailed the long kick for another 3. In all, the Boks lost possession or conceded penalties on three Argentinian restarts, while two of their own either didn’t go 10 or went out on the full. Penalties didn’t find touch, lineouts 5 metres out from the opponent’s line were overthrown. Obviously, not good enough at this level. 27-13.
Second Half
Of big interest to Wallaby fans thus far was the scrum. Koch was a core element of the best scrum in Super Rugby, the Stormers, which is why he was getting a chance with the Boks. One might deduce that Poite was going gangbusters with the whistle. On close inspection, the reality is that Ayerza was delivering a masterclass, rather than Poite looking to penalise. The Wallabies will simply have to scrum well at Twickenham. It should be noted, however, that the Boks later came across a little post-Ayerza dominance, including one massive shunt that made the whole Puma front row stand straight up, and didn’t get penalties. Go figure. One way or the other, Koch didn’t come out of the tunnel in the second half.
Then came the moment that really sucked all the morale out of the Boks. The Pumas had been awarded a penalty about 12 metres out from the Boks line. One of their players was injured. Poite called time off. A minute later, with no fewer than four medics still on the field, including one right at the penalty mark, and the Boks in a huddle, Poite called time back on. Hernandez saw the opportunity and passed wide to Imhoff on the left, who cruised in for number three.
The crowd went wild. Like many of Poite’s other calls today, it was by the book, but showed no awareness of the context of how rugby is actually played. With a Puma medic the closest opponent to them, the Boks had every reason to think that the game was off.
Hernandez again slotted the wide conversion and it was suddenly 34-13. From this point on, the Boks really began to lose the plot. Everything seemed to go against them. On attack, the Beast went over a ruck and kinda-sorta lost his feet; penalty Pumas. Soon afterwards, Cobus Reinach scored after taking a quick tap all of one metre in front of where Poite was standing, and directly IN the ruck where the penalty offence had been committed, and was called back for a re-take. As if to show how even-handed he was, Poite finished off by sending a Puma to the bin for a tackle where the initial contact was well below the head and slid up as the player fell down.
It was very reminiscent of what every reader has probably seen in a club rugby match, where the referee fundamentally loses the respect of both of the teams on the field.
But back to the rugby. With a 21 point lead and 30 minutes to play, the psychological balance of the game shifted dramatically. The Pumas looked like they had real belief that they could grab a historic win; the Boks looked utterly demoralised. Their attack seemed to consist of shipping it out to Willie Le Roux and hoping he could create something.
The fullback had a great second stanza. On 50 minutes he took a high-ball and beat the first tackle to unleash a counter-attack, then backed up in support to sprint away for the try. Lovely. A long bright spot in a sea of darkness for the Boks tonight. 34-20 Argentina.
The Pumas continued to attack with purpose and vigour, with Bosch landing a simple drop goal to keep them more than two scores ahead. The Boks just couldn’t deal with the Pumas and, not for the first time, had no Plan B to try to change the shape of the game. A late try to Bryan Habana made the final scoreline 37-25. The Pumas celebrated wildly in front of 40,000 stunned fans and the 1965 Puma team, the first to ever tour SA, who were in the stands. That was, incidentally enough, the last time the Boks lost four straight against four different teams.
A great night for Argentinian rugby. All those who claim these RC matches are little more than warm-ups should observe the confidence the win will give a team that has looked pretty poor the last couple of weeks- as well as the giant chasm of introspection that now faces their opponents.
The Breakdown
For the Pumas, there was a lot to like. In a much changed backline, nearly everyone looked the goods. They did the simple things well and their game plan built upon their strengths, but they also used the ball intelligently in the backs and looked to recycle quickly. They also avoided the niggle that sits at the heart of Argentine rugby’s DNA, but often works as much against them as for them. They played rugby and, in doing so, outplayed the second best team in the world at home.
For the Springboks, this was an utter disaster. Pat Lambie and Cobus Reinach looked much the better halves combination when they came on. The backrow balance isn’t working; Brussow and Coetzee just aren’t Michael Hooper and David Pocock. But everyone was to blame here. The gameplan was far too limited to trouble a team that plays much like themselves (coach), there were far too many unforced errors (players), and the group as a whole failed to keep their cool and believe they could pull out a win (everyone in the organisation). The classy Jean de Villiers did really well, it must be said, to both keep communicating effectively with Poite and to ensure his team didn’t lose their cool with decisions going against them.
Man of the Match
Marcos Ayerza had a huge game looking towards the World Cup, as did his criminally underrated front row partner Agustin Creevy. Hernandez looked the best option at 10 for the Pumas, Cubelli and Imhoff were also superb.
For the Boks, Le Roux was at his inventive best. If he gets injured, South Africa’s World Cup odds will shoot straight out. They really seem to have an offense built on the maul, hitting it up through the centres, and hoping Le Roux (or Reinach) can produce a bit of X factor.
