Springboks managed to close off the home leg on a high note with a 22-14 win against Argentina on Saturday at Emirates Airline Park, making it special for outgoing coach Jacques Nienaber and assistant coach Felix Jones in their last test last home game and possibly also Duane Vermeulen’s last dance in the green and gold jersey in South Africa.
Despite the Springboks' shaky start, they dominated the first half with their physicality up front to go into the halftime break with a 15-09 lead. However, Argentina controlled the second half and was unlucky to lose the test 22-14.
A catastrophic start to the first half for the Springboks from the kick-off led to wave after wave of attacks by Argentina which eventually led to a converted penalty for a three-pointer for the visitors. The exciting start was followed by both teams trying to establish physical dominance. After ten minutes of play, Argentina converted a second penalty to extend their lead to 06-00.
Following a Manie Libbok converted penalty the Springboks applied pressure on the Argentinian tryline with Eben Etzebeth bulldozing his way over the tryline in the corner. The Springboks took the lead with 08-06 for the first time after twenty minutes of action.
The Springboks pack started to dominate and following a 15-man maul by the Springboks Damian de Allende scored the Springboks' second try to lead 15-06 with thirteen minutes left to play in the first half.
A late penalty by Argentina narrowed the gap with the Springboks leading 15-09 and two minutes left to play in the first half. This was also the score at the halftime break.
Argentina started the second half like a house on fire and dominated statistics in the first twenty minutes of the match, however, the third quarter remained pointless.
A Manie Libbok try that started in the Springboks half brought the fans back from a deep sleep as Argentina's stranglehold on the test continued. The Springboks led 22-09 with ten minutes of play left in the test.
A yellow card shown to Damian de Allende left the Springboks with fourteen minutes on the field for the last minutes of the match. Argentina struck back almost immediately following the Springbok try, with a try of their own to trail by eight points and five minutes to play.
Argentina continued to dominate and scored their second try of the match after time was already up to lose 22-21.
Scorers:
Springboks: Tries: Eben Etzebeth, Damina de Allende, Manie Libbok. Conversions: Manie Libbok (2). Penalty: Manie Libbok.
Argentina: Try: Mateo Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou. Conversion: Santiago Carreras. Penalties: Santiago Carreras (3).
Teams
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Kwagga Smith, 20 Rudolph Snyman, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Lukhanyo Am, 23 Damian Willemse.
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Mateo Carreras, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Lautaro Bazán Vélez, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Lucas Paulos, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo. Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Tomás Albornoz, 23 Matias Moroni.