Boks have to fight to keep winning streak alive

The Springboks recorded a 12th successive victory but had to fight all the way to overcome a feisty and unrelenting Pumas to record a 17-10 victory (half-time 10-10) on a sunlit but cold and blustery afternoon in Buenos Aires.

The Boks’ kicking game failed to ignite in the buffeting breeze and the first half was not a vintage performance from the men in green and gold as the rust was knocked off for the five players in the starting XV, who were playing their first Test in eight months in Siya Kolisi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager (and Morne van den Berg on the bench).

Things improved dramatically after the interval – and now playing into the breeze – with the Boks scoring the only points of the half though a converted try by No 8 Cameron Hanekom – to add to wing Edwill van der Merwe’s first half score.

They denied the Pumas a 22 entry in that second period until a cacophonous last two minutes when a 50-22 by flanker Pablo Mantera (of all people) finally gave his team field position.

The Boks survived 15 phases in their own 22 after the clock had gone into the red to ensure they denied the home side an equalizing score – as well as shutting them out from the tenth minute of the match.

To add to the Boks’ challenges, skipper Siya Kolisi limped off in the 25th minute with what appeared to be another hamstring injury.

It was a hard and long afternoon and the Boks had to wait until the last act of the first half to score their first try and get on terms with the Pumas (10-10).

Credit for the try belonged to centre Andre Esterhuizen who pulled in a pass with the fingertips of one hand just inside the Pumas’ half before a one-handed pass to centre partner Canan Moodie, who dummied to go past his immediate marker and then it was two simple passes to Aphelele Fassi and Van der Merwe who scampered down the touchline and looped round behind the poles for his sixth try in seven Tests.

It levelled the scores after the much-changed home team – featuring six debutants – had set the pace on a bright, sunny afternoon, but with a biting wind at the backs of the Boks in the first half.

It meant high kicks repeatedly drifted away from the chasers and the gutsy and motivated Pumas were happy to exploit such mistakes as well as a misfiring Bok lineout to ignite the partisan home crowd.

Pumas flyhalf Santiago Carreras put the hosts in the lead with a long-range penalty in the third minute and converted a debut try from flanker Benjamin Grondona, who profited from an offload that popped out of tackle 10 metres out as the Boks appeared on the point of creating a stalled maul of the tackle.

The Boks’ only points up until the 40th minute was a penalty from Feinberg-Mngomezulu – the team’s first of the season – and he also hit the crossbar with a 35-metre drop goal attempt at the end of 13 phases that had broken on the light blue and white wall.

The injection of the Bomb Squad 10 minutes into the second half lifted the tempo for the Boks. Esterhuizen was held up over the line; Johann Grobbelaar scored a try under the crossbar only to see it correctly scratched out for a hand in touch several phases earlier and the Boks took almost complete control of field position.

The dam finally broke in the 62nd minute when the all-new front row – with Cobus Wiese and Etzebeth behind – drilled a five-metre scrum forwards and the impressive Hanekom picked up and touched down to score his first Test try in his third appearance in the green and gold.

The Boks looked likely to score again but the Pumas were as resolute as their visitors and didn’t give up until a knock-on ended their dream of a dramatic equaliser.

Score

Argentina 10 (10) – Tries: Benjamin Grondono. Conversions: Santago Carreras. Penalty: Carreras.

Springboks 17 (10) – Tries: Edwill van der Merwe, Cameron Hanekom. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Handre Pollard. Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.