The Springboks secured an impressive 24-13 victory over Argentina following a strong second half showing in Buenos Aires on Saturday evening.
The reigning world champions beat the Pumas for the eighth time in a row, and the match took a decisive turn soon after halftime.
Even though the flanker Franco Mostert got a yellow card late in the first half, Makazole Mapimpi and Canan Moodie both scored tries in the next four minutes.
The tries turned a 10–3 halftime deficit into a 5–point lead, and as the Pumas’ bad behaviour spread, fly-half Manie Libbok kicked three penalties to make sure they won.
It was a good game for South Africa, who showed that they have a lot of depth even though only two of their starters are likely to be on the team that plays Scotland in the first game of the World Cup next month.
Agustin Creevy, a hooker, came off the bench and played in his record 100th Argentine Test, but they lost. In 2005, he made his first game for the South American country.
Grant Williams of the Springboks and Lucas Paulos of the Pumas both got concussions in a Rugby Championship game last weekend in Johannesburg. South Africa won the game, 22-21, but only just.
The same thing happened to Argentine centre Santiago Chocobares just 81 seconds into the rematch at Estadio Jose Amalfitani. He had to leave the game, and Matias Moroni came off the bench.
On a partly cloudy afternoon, Libbok missed the first chance to score when his 22-meter penalty shot went to the right of the far post.
The Springboks finally got a reward for their early pressure when the playmaker made his second penalty try 11 minutes later from almost the same spot.
But the momentum changed in the middle of the first half, and scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou’s quick thinking led to Argentina’s only try of the half on minute 22.
He took a quick tap penalty and outmuscled flanker Deon Fourie to score a touchdown. Winger Emiliano Boffelli added the extra two points for a 7-3 lead.
Libbok missed a chance to close the gap to one point when his third penalty kick went to the right and was a long way from the goal.
When the Georgian referee got tired of giving penalties to the visitors, he sent off Mostert for tackling a Puma off the ball. This was another bad thing for the visitors.
Boffelli was brought back after being rested for the Johannesburg Test. He made the conversion from the resulting penalty, and the home team went into halftime with a seven-point lead.
After Mapimpi and Moodie scored in opposite corners and Libbok turned the first one into a try, Boffelli scored his second penalty to close the gap to just two points.
The rest of the game, though, belonged to the three-time world champions, and even though Libbok missed two shots on goal, he scored three penalties to help his team win easily.
