Boks down Argentina but it's not enough to win Rugby Championship title

In the end it proved to be Mission Impossible for the Boks.

When the hooter went, a whiff of disappointment engulfed the Shark Tank to tell a story that this far from convincing 38-21 performance was not enough to see them get the required bonus point and 40 or more points to win this Rugby Championship.

It was one of those cruel sporting situations where the Boks did enough to win the match but still ended up as ‘losers’, just like in away goals rule that is more synonymous with football.

Thousands of kilometres away in Auckland, New Zealand, the All Blacks went to sleep on Saturday with one hand on the trophy after their comprehensive 40-14 thumping of Australia.

The Boks beat Los Pumas but the All Blacks woke up on Sunday morning (their time) as winners of this Rugby Championship to sustain their dominance in this tournament.

Jacques Nienaber and his coaching staff will be bitterly disappointed at coming so close to winning the tournament but encouraged that they managed four wins out of six starts.

Nienaber will also be pleased that younger players like Jaden Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie were thrown into the deep end and swam to shore comfortably.

Also, senior player Jasper Wiese made his comeback to the side and he looks a safe bet to take over from Duane Vermeulen whose involvement in this Rugby Championship was limited.

Focus now turns to the end-of-year tour where the Boks are scheduled to play Ireland, France, Italy and England. They will boosted by the return of Cheslin Kolbe, Handrè Pollard and Damian Willemse.

Leading up to the end-of-year tour and building up to the World Cup next year in France, there is a question mark over Elton Jantjies who was removed from the squad in Buenos Aires for off-field issues.

In the lead-up to this match, focus was firmly on Frans Steyn who was inserted at flyhalf due to the unavailability of Pollard, Jantjies and Willemse and he returned with a notable 80 minutes and six points.

Attention was on 35-year-old Steyn because he was playing at No 10 for the Boks for the first time in 14 years and only for the second time in his career.

This match was also the homecoming of their Bok stars Siya Kolisi, Hendrikse, Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi who play their franchise rugby for the Sharks.

Argentina stayed in the game for most parts but they could not replicate the feat of 2015 when they earned their first-ever Test victory over the Springboks with that memorable 37-25 win at this venue.

Interestingly enough, winger Juan Imhoff, who scored a marvellous hat-trick for Los Pumas in that match, was started by coach Michael Cheika, who was animated throughout the game from his seat in the press box, to replace Lucio Cinti.

It was still scoreless when the Pumas suffered a numerical disadvantage after loose-forward Marcos Kremer was sent to the bin and they were made to pay during his absence as they conceded the first try by Wiese.

Following Wiese’s touchdown after 20 minutes off the back of the set piece, the Boks increased their advantage later through captain Siya Kolisi who dived over the line after a good maul.

Then, Steyn kicked one of his trademark long range penalties from over 50m as the Boks increased their lead but the Pumas scored on the stroke of halftime through a try by Gonzalo Bertranou that was converted by Emiliano Boffelli.

The Pumas got the second half to a good start González left Wille le Roux for dead before he scored their second try with Boffelli converting.

The Boks regained their 10 points lead shortly before the hour mark when they were awarded a penalty try after the maul was collapsed and Jeronimo de la Fuente saw yellow.

Jeronimo de la Fuente returned to score next to the corner flag to make it a three-point game with Eben Etzebeth and Faf de Klerk in the bin.

The Boks pulled away again with the second penalty try and Arendse’s buried third try at the death as they ended the tournament on a high and some consolation for the fans who packed this stadium.

SA — Tries: Jasper Wiese, Siya Kolisi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Conversions: Frans Steyn (3)

Penalty Tries (2), Penalty: Frans Steyn (1) 

Argentina — Tries: Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martín González, Jeronimo de la Fuente

Conversions: Emiliano Boffelli (3)

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