FIRST HURDLE CROSSED
IT WAS job done in Durban for the Springboks as they emerged 34-21 in a game of two halves for the home side. The Boks were brought into a real arm wrestle with the Pumas in the first half, and made to pay for playing too much rugby, but what must have been a stern halftime talk turned fortunes around with the winners scoring six tries to three.
Coming out of the sheds at the break, the Boks left their mistakes and high risk play behind them, and scored three quick tries.
The coach will be happy with a few good individual performances, as well as a winning start the the Championship as they next head to Argentina to play the reverse fixture.
The individual plays, runs and rucks all looked slick and controlled, but with too much rugby comes a higher rate of errors, and for the Pumas, that was rich pickings. The grizzled and cohesive Argentinians managed to slide into Test-mode quickly, turning the Bok mistakes into positive attacking opportunities.
Mistake limitation is something that Rassie Erasmus will have to address as the competition wears on, because if the Pumas are good at making the most of opposition errors, the likes of the All Blacks are absolute masters.
Another aspect that was error ridden was the kicking of Handre Pollard. The flyhalf missed his first three kicks, leaving a massive 13 in total on the field, and at a time when the Boks really needed to relieve scoreboard pressure.
But, unlike the England series, the Springboks showed the upper hand in the contest as Lukhanyo Am racked up his first Test try on his home field, thanks to a good driving run from Pollard.
However, the battle was clearly going to be an attritional one as the half wore on. The arm wrestle maintained as the Pumas ground towards the Springbok line before sending the ball out to their illusive running flyhalf, Nicolas Sanchez, to take the lead as he converted his five-pointer too.
The Pumas then furthered the lead as flanker Pablo Matera scored in the corner, but it was off a Springbok mistake as the home side looked to be trying to play too much rugby.
Too many offloads left the possibility of a counter attack dead in the water which allowed the visitors the chance to scoop up a loose ball and take the five points.
The Boks did manage to strike back as Willie le Roux decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck by hoofing a pin point cross kick to Aphiwe Dyantyi to collect and slide over as the half drew to a close.
The talk in the sheds must have been a bit of a hairdryer as the Boks needed less than three minutes into the second stanza to score with Dyantyi profiting off another kick, this time from Faf de Klerk, as he stretched for the left corner. Even Pollard’s kicking came right as the Boks took the lead by three points.
With mistakes being kept to a minimum, and some proper Test rugby being played, the Boks managed to suck in the Pumas defence enough to send a loopy pass to Makazole Mapimpi to waltz over for his second Test try.
More good Test rugby, and another walk in try for Mapimpi, but what was most surprising was the unselfish nature of Dyantyi who made the pop pass to his wing partner despite having an open tryline and a hat-trick baying.
Argentina managed to get their first points of the second half, off another Bok mistake, as debutant Damian Willemse’s long pass missed its target and fell into the hands of the Pumas to score under the posts.
It was short lived though as consistent pressure from a few mauls and pick and goes allowed Faf de Klerk to sneak the ball over the line from close to the line, pushing the lead to 13 with nine minutes to go.