Cape Town - The Springboks were left with the 2015 Rugby Championship wood-spoon after they suffered a humiliating 37-25 defeat at the hands of Argentina in Durban on Saturday evening.
The result left South Africa winless to date in 2015 after their Rugby Championship defeats by New Zealand and Australia, who earlier in the day annexed the 2015 championship with a shock win over the All Blacks in Sydney.
Argentina took the game by the scruff of the neck right from the outset and this set the stage for a convincing first-half display that later ended with a commanding 27-13 lead which would been bigger but for two missed kickable penalties and a drop goal.
A second-minute line-out was the platform for Argentina’s first try after centre Marcelo Bosch ran in after a fine break by winger Juan Imhoff who caught the Springbok defence napping. Flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez raised the flags with the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
Flyhalf Handre Pollard reduced the deficit for the Boks with a ninth minute penalty (7-3).
The three-point setback did little to stem the resolve in Argentina’s ranks and followed with passage of play that was good enough to take the game away completely from the Boks. However, on the back of securing two turn-overs during an 11-minute passage of play, Hernandez missed three chances to advance his side’s tally.
A useless upfield kick by Bok fullback Willie le Roux midway through the first half was exploited by Argentina as they used it to counter-attack with great effect and resulted in their second try by Imhoff in the 22nd minute. Hernandez’s conversion was good (14-3).
The Boks briefly managed to regain the initiative but they lacked the attacking acumen to make the most of first-phase possession and it was left to Pollard to make scoreboard headway with a 28th minute penalty (14-6).
Argentina again showed that they could use a set-piece as an effective platform for scoring tries and this time they used the scrum. Their No 8 Leonardo Senatore peeled off from the back of a scrum before he smartly off-loaded a scoring pass to Imhoff who notched his second try. Hernandez’s conversion took the lead out to 21-6 in the 32nd minute.
There was a telling response from the Boks who made good a training ground move when lock Lood de Jager scored after a 5m line-out. Pollard goaled the conversion (21-13).
Just ahead of this try, Bok centre Jean de villiers made a fine break which took play up to the visitors’ tryline. It served as confirmation that the midfielder was ready for the big time after a sustained injury lay-off.
In the closing stages of the first half the visitors added six more points via penalties from Hernandez and Bosch for a 27-13 halftime lead.
Moments after the restart, the Boks were stunned by a try from Imhoff after Argentina ran a close-in penalty. The Boks seemed confused that referee Romain Poite of France allowed the match to continue when medical staff were still far from making their way off the field.
But the try stood and Hernandez added further insult to injury with a smart touchline conversion (34-13).
Once the Boks were able to regain composure their backliners De Villiers and Jessie Kriel combined splendidly before sending Le Roux in for a try, which Pollard converted in the 49th minute (34-20).
The Boks could not summon the enterprise that would have provided a hint that they could save the game and a 62nd minute Hernandez drop-goal took it even further away from them, and as it turned out, for once and for good (37-20).
There was a consolation score for the Boks at the death when wing Bryan Habana scored an unconverted try (37-25).
Scorers:
Springboks - Tries: Lodewyk De Jager, Willie Le Roux, Bryan Habana.
Conversions: Handre Pollard (2).
Penalties: Pollard (2)
Argentina - Tries: Marcelo Bosch, Juan Imhoff (3)
Conversions: Juan Martin Hernandez (4).
Penalties: Hernandez, Marcelo Bosch.
Drop-goal: Hernandez
ANA