Argentina 29-28 South Africa: Springboks lose thriller to take Rugby Championship to final day
Argentina beat South Africa to keep their slim Rugby Championship title hopes alive; Springboks hold a five-point lead heading into the final round of fixtures and looking to win first title since 2019; Watch South Africa vs Argentina on Saturday live on Sky Sports (4pm ko)
Last Updated: 22/09/24 9:33am
Argentina kept their hopes of winning the Rugby Championship alive when they edged world champions South Africa 29-28 on Saturday to temporarily deny the Springboks their first title since 2019.
Argentina scored four tries to turn a 17-0 deficit into a 26-22 half-time lead, before holding out in a tight second half to claim a famous win and take the Rugby Championship into the the final week.
A much-changed Springboks side had a chance to seal their first title since 2019 when replacement fly half Manie Libbok attempted a penalty in the 79th minute, but he sent the ball wide of the posts and Argentina held on to claim a famous victory.
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The tournament now will be decided in the return match between the teams in Nelspruit, South Africa next weekend. South Africa will go into the match atop the table with 19 points with Argentina five points behind and needing maximum points to have a chance of claiming the Championship for the first time.
How Argentina stunned South Africa
In an extraordinary, see-sawing match played in temperatures of 35 degrees, South Africa raced out to a 17-point lead after only 12 minutes with tries to full back Aphelele Fassi and centre Jesse Kriel and a penalty to fly half Handre Pollard.
With his second conversion, Pollard passed Morne Steyn to move into second place on the Springboks' all-time scoring list.
Left-winger Mateo Carreras sparked the Pumas comeback, scoring a try in the 15th minute and creating another for Pablo Matera in the 22nd minute. Matera's try and another to prop Joel Sclavi came when the Springboks were down to 14 men, with Kurt-Lee Arendse in the sin-bin for a high tackle on Matera.
Sclavi's try in the 27th minute gave Argentina the lead for the first time and they expanded their advantage to 26-17 with a try to fly half Tomas Albornoz from a tapped penalty, although the Springboks then rallied with a try from scrum half Cobus Reinach to cut the lead to 26-22 at half time.
In a tight second half, the Springboks reduced the Pumas' lead to one point with a penalty to Pollard then went ahead 28-26 with a penalty to Libbok in the 50th minute, before Argentina rallied to regain the lead at 29-28 with an Albornoz penalty in the 68th minute.
They then held out the Springboks' vaunted "bomb squad" which had been able to guide South Africa to comeback wins over New Zealand in Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier in the Championship.
Montoya proud of Argentina victory
"We knew it was going to be a tough match against the back-to-back world champions," Argentina captain Julian Montoya said. "I wasn't worried about the mistakes.
"I was worried when we were 17-0 down but I told the team we have a plan and we are going to execute it. We trusted each other. We win together and we lose together and I'm super proud of the team."
What's next?
New Zealand can no longer win the Rugby Championship but will look to finish their campaign Australia again on Saturday September 28 in Wellington (8.05am kick-off), with South Africa hosting Argentina later that day (4pm) and both matches live on Sky Sports. Stream rugby union and more with NOW.
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