Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a hat-trick as the Springboks claimed a dominant bonus-point victory over Argentina at Kings Park on Saturday. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The Boks’ nine-try, 67-30 triumph ensured they head into the final round of the Rugby Championship at the top of the log. They have 15 points after five rounds, one clear of the All Blacks, who beat the Wallabies 33-24 at Eden Park. Australia remain on 11 points and Argentina on nine.
Los Pumas and the Boks will clash again next Saturday at Twickenham after the second Bledisloe Cup Test is staged in Perth.
As expected, the world champions had to grind Argentina down before securing what could be a vital bonus point for scoring three or more tries than their opponents.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu was the Springboks’ star – scoring three tries, creating several others and finishing with a 37-point haul to break Percy Montgomery’s previous Bok record of 35.
PICK YOUR BOK MVP: Boks vs Argentina
Early scrum dominance allowed Feinberg-Mngomezulu to land a 49m penalty, before two Bok offside infringements saw Santiago Carreras kick Los Pumas into a 6-3 lead. The flyhalves then traded penalties to make it 9-6.
Eben Etzebeth looked to have scored from close range, but the try was ruled out after the TMO spotted a Cobus Reinach knock-on – though it had been caused by a Pumas foot in the ruck. From the ensuing penalty, the Boks kicked to touch and Malcolm Marx powered over from the lineout maul.
Argentina hit back in bizarre fashion when Cheslin Kolbe’s quick goal-line dropout was collected by Santiago Chocobares just five metres out, and the centre dotted down next to the posts.
The Boks replied immediately as Feinberg-Mngomezulu chased down his own kick into the corner and converted.
Sacha’s pace though
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On the stroke of half-time, Marx collapsed a Pumas maul to concede a penalty try and cop a yellow card. There was still time for a restart, though, and after a dozen phases the Boks struck again, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu darting over for his second to give them a 25-23 lead at the break.
Hot stepping from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
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The 14-man Boks scored early in the second half when Kolbe collected a cross-kick from Feinberg-Mngomezulu. The flyhalf then completed his hat-trick with an audacious dummy while filling in at scrumhalf.
𝐇𝐀𝐓-𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎
Sacha is putting on a masterclass at Kings Park
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Tomás Albornoz pulled one back for Los Pumas with their third try, but South Africa restored their three-try cushion when Morné van den Berg finished off a sweeping attack.
Pieter-Steph du Toit then powered over to take the Boks past the 50-point mark before Manie Libbok and Du Toit completed the rout.
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
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