BUILDING MOMENTUM
With Ireland on World Cup radar, Boks are growing in confidence
SOUTH AFRICA 34
ARGENTINA 21
SOUTH AFRICA’S revival under the stewardship of former Munster boss Rassie Erasmus continues to gather momentum after they opened their Rugby Championship campaign with a hardfought 13point win over Argentina in Durban yesterday.
Wingers Aphiwe Dyantyi and Makazole Mapimpi scored two tries each as South Africa rallied in the second half to out-score the Pumas by six tries to three.
The Springbok revival under Erasmus will concern Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, with the two countries set to meet in the quarterfinals of next year’s World Cup in Japan should results go as expected in the pool stages.
However, Erasmus was concerned by the heavy work they made of seeing off Argentina, who frequently had the Springboks scrambling desperately in defence, and although South Africa’s director of rugby was pleased with how his team finished off the game strongly, he accepts there is lots to work on before the return clash in Argentina next weekend.
‘The only positive was the first 30 minutes in the second half; it was the only decent rugby we played,’ said Erasmus.
‘I was expecting that we wouldn’t produce a completely fluent display, but the first half was worse than I thought. Thankfully Siya [Kolisi] and the boys picked it up after the break.
‘We lost a few lineouts that were crucial and there were some technical errors but for all of that it was a dominant performance, but it wasn’t the crispest performance. Technically and tactically we weren’t on par today.
‘With a new loose trio combination it is always tough to just click. Overall it was a dominant performance but I wouldn’t say it was a crisp performance.
‘I know the Pumas are fuming and they’ll want to get us back when we go there.’
Lukhanyo Am and Faf de Klerk claimed South Africa’s other tries while Nicolas Sanchez, Pablo Matera and Matias Moroni crossed the line for Argentina.
The Boks continued a trend set in the first two matches of their threetest series against Eddie Jones’ England in June when they went behind early and were forced to come back to win.
‘We didn’t start well as we made a lot of mistakes which was disappointing because we’ve been working hard on our discipline over the last weeks,’ South Africa captain Siya Kolisi said.
‘But as much as we were making mistakes, the effort gets better every week.’
The Springboks were 14-5 behind after 30 minutes but by half-time had reduced the deficit to four points before they tagged on four tries after the interval to ensure a winning start to the annual southern hemisphere competition.
One of the key issues that will need to be addressed is the fact that flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked over just one of six attempts at posts and the hosts, turning down kickable penalties to go for touch instead, botched the resultant close-in line-outs.
Am opened the scoring after eight minutes but Argentina hit back quickly as they took advantage of errors to see Sanchez and Matera over the tryline.
Dyantyi, named man of the match, carried over a superb cross field kick from Willie le Roux to launch the home recovery before the break and two minutes after the interval went over again as the Boks took control.
Mapimpi, in his second test, scored two tries in a five- minute spell soon after before Moroni’s intercept try reduced the home lead to 27-21 with just over 10 minutes left.
De Klerk, however, darted over for the sixth home try as consistent pressure wore down the Pumas defence.
The teams meet again at the Estadio Malvinas in Mendoza next week. south africa: Tries: Dyanti (2), Mapimpi (2), Am, de Klerk; Cons: Pollard (2). ARGENTINA: Tries: Sanchez, Matera, Moroni; Cons: Sanchez (3).
4
After a shaky start in Durban, South Africa scored four tries in the second half to beat Argentian