FULL-BACK APHELELE Fassi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit scored two tries each as South Africa trounced Argentina 48-7 in Mbombela on Saturday to win the Rugby Championship.
Argentina, who trailed 27-7 at half-time, paid dearly for ill-discipline. Flanker Pablo Matera received a red cards and brothers Mateo and Santiago Carreras were both sin-binned.
Wing Cheslin Kolbe, hooker Malcom Marx and centre Jesse Kriel also crossed the tryline for the Springboks, whose only previous title in the competition came five years ago.
Scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse, a surprise choice as goal-kicker, slotted two conversions and a penalty. Substitute playmaker Handre Pollard kicked three conversions.
Fly-half Tomas Albornoz scored all the Argentine points as he converted his own try before a capacity 45,000 crowd at Mbombela Stadium.
South Africa completed the six-round southern hemisphere championship with 24 points. Then came outgoing title-holders New Zealand (16 points), Argentina (14) and Australia (five).
Nine-time winners New Zealand completed a disappointing campaign with a 33-13 victory over Australia in Wellington earlier on Saturday.
Before the match in Mbombela the spotlight was on two Springboks — lock Eben Etzebeth and fly-half Manie Libbok — for different reasons.
Etzebeth became the most-capped Springbok with 128 Test appearances, edging ahead of fellow lock Victor Matfield, who retired in 2015 after playing in 127 internationals.
The 32-year-old played the entire 80 minutes and was his usual industrious self for the four-time Rugby World Cup champions.
A missed penalty by substitute Libbok last weekend allowed Argentina to edge South Africa 29-28 in South America and delay the outcome of the Championship.
His miss triggered a wave of social media criticism, but Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus showed his faith in the playmaker by promoting him from the bench to start in Mbombela.
- Hendrikse promoted -
Erasmus took the goal-kicking duties away from Libbok, though, promoting Hendrikse to take kicks at the posts for the first time. He succeeded with three of six attempts.
Meanwhile, Libbok impressed with ball in hand and several ambitious cross-field kicks almost led to tries.
South Africa applied relentless pressure from the kick-off and it paid off after eight minutes when Fassi dived over and Hendrikse converted.
Argentina could not get out of their half and fell further behind six minutes later when Du Toit dived over several bodies and scored. Hendrikse converted again.
When the Pumas finally moved into Springbok territory they were rewarded as slick handling sent Albornoz over between the posts on 19 minutes and he added the extra points.
The seven-point gap did not last long as Hendrikse slotted a penalty. After wing Mateo Carreras was sin-binned, Fassi and Kolbe scored but Hendrikse failed to convert either try.
After a dominant first-half performance, especially in the scrums, the Springboks turned round with a 27-7 lead.
Argentina also lost star back Santiago Chocobares to a leg injury on 26 minutes. Lucio Cinti took his place at inside centre.
When full-back Santiago Carreras was yellow carded, Argentina were down to 13 men and Marx, Du Toit and Kriel scored tries, all of which Pollard converted.
South Africa now take a break until early November when they travel to Europe for Tests against Scotland, England and Wales.
We saved the best for last!!! , sensational springboks !!!!!! Tony brown you beauty!!!! Rugby championship champs 2024 (and back to back scalps over those pesky allblacks!!) that mbombela stadium is absolutely rocking. Eben etzebeth you legend…
@Stuart: Allways going to win this with ease after last week
@Stuart: well down Stuart , best team in the world despite the rankings !
@Owen ODonoghue: we don’t need rankings shmankings, ha :)
@ED: it’s not about who we played . That was Finally, 4 X 4 rugby! 1) Traditional South African forward grunt, 2) Jacques Nienaber’s almost impenetrable defence – with scramble defensive as additional back-up , 3) judicious kicking (NOT incessant kicking) and 4) a super-fast, free-flowing passing game, going wide, cutting in, simply mesmerising. SA has so very much talent, and now finally the coaching vision, and coaching courage to harness that!
This was the first time the Boks showed they can indeed play perfect rugby.
@Stuart: I don’t think anyone bar the media really cares about ratings. World cup winners is the most important title. The media just use rating to generate “content”. It’s kinda sad really but it’s the media landscape we live in unfortunately.
@Stuart: Good synopsis. I am glad to see SA combine the physical with invention. The style in WC was effective but hard to enthuse about. At the moment ye are unquestionably the best team in the world. The trophy cabinet underscores this.
@Joshua Walsh: I care we are best in world
@Stuart: but he is right after last week lost it allways going to be an easy win today
@Stuart: first time they played with skill and didnt play like kickbox as they useually play lol ireland still better side dont care about wc’s
@Stuart: Said nothing about who ye played after last week ye were allways going to win with ease today puma’s still celebrations since last week same happend v all blacks
@Shawn: Agree World cups are never won by the best side bar new zealand winning them all others were lucky to win them
@Stuart: congrats Stuart, well done South Africa!!!