The Springboks rebounded from a poor first half to claim an eighth straight victory over Argentina in a World Cup warm-up in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Trailing 10-3 after a first half that saw them waste multiple try-scoring opportunities, shank penalties and concede a yellow card, the Springboks scored two quickfire tries in the second half to inspire a 24-13 victory.
Given that Jacques Nienaber names the 33-player World Cup squad on Tuesday, the Test effectively served as a final opportunity to push for a place on the plane to France.
On the basis of the first half, it’s fair to say that very few players put their hands up. Manie Libbok gave the Boks an early lead, but also missed two kickable penalties on the 22-metre line. Meanwhile, Jean Kleyn and Jasper Wiese were both held up over the tryline and Franco Mostert was yellow-carded as South Africa came under pressure and conceded penalty after penalty.
However, Argentina hardly took full advantage. Celebrating veteran hooker Agustin Creevy’s 100th Test match, Los Pumas were equally as poor on attack as their opponents and could only come away with a quick-tap try from scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou and two penalties from Emiliano Boffelli.
The second half was a completely different story.
From the restart, the Springboks raised the intensity and quickly turned the game around with two tries in the space of five minutes. Jesse Kriel, on for Lukhanyo Am who appeared to hurt his knee in the first half, produced a delightful offload to allow Damian Willemse to spread the ball to Makazole Mapimpi to finish.
Almost immediately, the Boks won a penalty, kicked to Argentina’s 22 and formed a powerful driving maul, from which Libbok produced an excellent cross-field kick to find Canan Moodie to score South Africa’s second try.
Speaking of Moodie, the winger produced a brilliant performance. Away from his try, Moodie was a force of nature on defence, winning a couple of turnovers and forcing Argentina into errors with some big hits and crucial defensive reads.
There were also impressive cameos from Jean-Luc du Preez, debutant prop Gerhard Steenekamp, who won a penalty from his first scrum at Test level, and the aforementioned Kriel.
Those two tries seemed to settle the Springboks and the visitors continued to win penalty after penalty, while emptying the bench in the process. Libbok put aside his first-half horror show and converted three successive penalties, two of them long-range, to all but seal the result by the time Creevy made his way onto the field in the last nine minutes.
The Springboks next face Wales in their penultimate warm-up match in Cardiff on 19 August.
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images
