📷 - @bokrugby
Written by Matt Brown
South Africa have retained the Rugby Championship after a 29-27 win against Argentina at Allianz Staidum Twickenham today (October 4th)
Earlier on in the day, New Zealand had laid down their claim for the title by beating fierce rivals Australia 28-14. It seemed at first, the All Blacks may well have been heading to lift the trophy when after just two minutes at Allianz the Springboks were down to 14 men when centre Canan Moodie was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle.
It didn’t take long for Los Pumas to make the most of their man advantage, when Bautista Delguy broke through to score the first try of the game and they continued to turn the screw on South Africa leading 13-3. Former Northampton Saints scrum half Cobus Reinach however was able to go over for a much-needed try.
With the score 13-10 at the start of the second half, the Springboks knew the pressure was on them and that an improved performance was definitely required.
📷 - @MattBrown3010
They were certainly helped when prop Mayco Vivas was sent to the sin bin and this is where the game began to change. In the 10 minutes that Vivas was watching from the sidelines, Malcolm Marx was able to crash over before Reinach scored his second of the day.
Marx added his second in the 58th minute and it looked like it was potentially game over and the title secured with the score at 29-13. But Argentina had other ideas and weren’t going to go away quietly, Delguy was able to score his second of the game and following the conversion by Santiago Carreras there was a nervous energy around the stadium.
Unfortunately for Argentina, they weren’t able to pull off a comeback win but they did walk away with a losing bonus point after a delightful kick over the top was superbly finished by Rodrigo Isgro (a man known more for scoring down the road at Twickenham Stoop in the quarters of Harlequins). With the clock in the red Carreras slotted his third conversion of the game to give those in blue and white something to go home happy about.
Next up for South Africa is a trip to the home of English football as they face Eddie Jones’ Japan at Wembley Stadium, meanwhile Argentina head to Cardiff to face a Wales side who are looking to back up their summer win against the aforementioned Japan
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Another well written article, well done Matt