Springboks v Argentina: Winners and losers as ‘perfect’ 10 breaks record and giant flanker ‘demolishes’ opponents
Springboks vs Argentina: Winners and losers as 'perfect' ten breaks record and giant flanker 'demolishes' opponents
The Springboks came through their Rugby Championship match against Argentina unscathed on Saturday, proving to be too powerful for their visitors.
Here are our winners and losers from the game.
Winners
Jasper Wiese
The barnstorming number eight was tremendous with ball in hand, gaining yards with each thunderous carry to put the Springboks on the front foot. With plenty of competition for South Africa’s number eight shirt, Wiese once again rewarded Rassie Erasmus’ faith in him.
Joaquin Oviedo
Like his teammates, his impact dampened as the second half hit, but beating 10 men in 13 carries gives a great indication of just how important he was to his side. Only Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Wiese had more carries in a game that became more open as it went on. The 24-year-old stretched his rangy legs with every opportunity, as he proved to be Los Pumas’ key attacking weapon.
Marcos Kremer
The flanker made almost double the number of tackles as anyone else on his side, as he put in the hard work to keep his side within the game. Sadly for Kremer, his teammates were worn down by the power of the South African attack, so he was able to do little to affect the end result.
Pieter-Steph du Toit
The two-time World Rugby Player of the Year never seems to have an off day, and today just solidified that. The Argentinians simply had no defence against the giant flanker when he had the ball in hand. He demolished the tackle-shy Argentine defence with his powerful leg drives, often leaving defenders hanging off him as he looked for that next decisive offload. He got on the scoresheet twice, clinching his second in the final seconds of the match.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
As perfect a performance as you’re ever likely to see from a fly-half. Three tries and 37 total points saw the 23-year-old break the great Percy Montgomery’s Springbok record for the most points in a single Test match. He controlled the game expertly, nailed all his kicks and was a constant threat on the ball. Scored 20 of the Springboks’ 25 points at the break, including two tries, he then completed his hat-trick in the second half, before assisting Cheslin Kolbe with a beautifully crafted cross-field kick.
Losers
Thomas du Toit
The Bath prop conceded three penalties within the opening minutes as he struggled to match the intensity of the game. As the match evolved, Du Toit’s performance grew with it, but the damage had already been done on the scoreline. A rare cold period for the experienced prop, but having performed so well last week, we expect it to be just a blip.
Julián Montoya
The veteran hooker was well off the mark when it came to throwing darts. He had just a 50% lineout success rate, which is simply criminal in a game of such high stakes. The quality of tackling was not high in this game, so even though he wasn’t the worst, his three missed tackles will haunt him for some time to come.
Malcolm Marx
Marx was dead set on being on the winners’ list when he scored his 25th Test try early into the match, but then giving away a penalty try and gaining a yellow card put a stop to that. Fortunately for Marx, the seven points he conceded didn’t affect the overall result, and the rest of his game was exemplary.
Cheslin Kolbe
An odd sort of performance from the double World Cup-winning winger. He did manage to get on the scoresheet when he collected an inch-perfect cross-kick from Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but otherwise, he failed to make much of an impact on the match. The only other impact that he made will be one that he’ll want to quickly forget. Bizarrely drop-kicking the ball to a teammate from behind his own try-line, the ball was then collected by Santiago Chocobares to score under the sticks. The bizarre moment was initially greeted by silence from the host South African TV broadcaster before pundit Schalk Burger, the legendary Springboks back-rower, piped up, saying: “Cheslin Kolbe with the try assist, you would say.”