Argentina draw in historic match against South Africa
True to their reputation, aggression and desperation in both attack and defence helped the Pumas dominate for most of the game.
Led by inspirational captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, above, and the ever green Rodrigo Roncero, Argentina took a convincing 13-3 lead into the break and looked set for their ‘rendez-vous’ with history.
But as the game went on, fatigue started kicking in and the line speed went to see the South African coming back into the game before a Frans Steyn charged down salvaged the draw.
South Africa were unable to cope under the pressure in the first half and never seemed able to find gaps in the courageous Pumas’ defence.
They tried to move the ball around but were very lateral until the late stages of the game when they took a more direct approach with their big forward runners.
Argentina got the scoreboard ticking with a penalty from Martin Rodriguez before some powerful running by the forwards through the middle saw centre Santiago Fernandez run free from ten metres and score under the post.
Rodriguez converted to take a lead to 10-0 after 13 minutes.
South Africa finally got their hands on the ball but couldn’t score until Morne Steyn succeeded on his second attempt and slotted a penalty to reduce the score to 10-3 on the half hour mark.
But the Springboks were caught offside by referee Steve Walsh and Rodriguez restored the ten points lead with his second penalty to put Argentina 13-3 in front at the break.
Frans Steyn missed an early penalty in the second half but Morne Steyn reduced the score two minutes later with a penalty of his own.
Argentina started to pay for all their courageous efforts to see the Springboks bring their big runners into the game and start to make ground.
With the very loud crowd behind them, the Argentines were never going to surrender and composed themselves to go back on the front foot an set camp in the Springboks 22 following a brilliant run from replacement scrum-half Martin Landajo.
Fernandez went for the drop goal but Fernandez hooked it to the left of the post.
From the 22 restart, South Africa put pressure on Argentina and Frans Steyn charged down a clearance kick on the 40-metre line to regather the ball and score by the post.
Morne Steyn added the extras to level the score with 14 minutes to go.
Argentina couldn’t break the defence while the Springboks kept kicking deep in the opposition half to see the score stay leveled.
Argentina: Rodríguez; Camacho, Bosch, Fernández, Agulla; Sanchez (Amorosino 55), Vergallo (Landaio 56); Roncero (Ayerza 57), Guiñazú, Figallo; Carizza, Albacete; Cabello, Galindo (Leonardi 36), Fernández Lobbe.
Not Used: Postiglioni, Senatore, Imhoff
South Africa: Kirchner; Habana (Pienaar 58), de Villiers, F. Steyn, Mvovo; M. Steyn, Hougaard ; Mtawarira, Strauss (Liebenberg 76), du Plessis (Cilliers 69); Etzebeth, Bekker (van der Merwe 50); Coetzee (Daniel 65), Pogieter, Alberts.
Not Used: Lambie, Engelbrecht.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
