Following a 38-21 victory for South Africa over Argentina in their Rugby Championship clash, here's our five takeaways from the match in Durban.
Out of position, out of shape and out of gas, any suggestion of South Africa playing for the 39-point win they needed ended whenever the ball came his way. Now donโt think for one moment that we are criticising the actual cards, the key here is that there are far too many offences that now appear to warrant a sin-bin. Frustratingly, time and time again they conceded the same penalties: three for binding on the leg at maul time, four for collapsing the maul (and two penalty tries with matching yellow cards). Their defence at times was superb, they won the aerial battle and bossed the drop zone, but the hammering they took at scrumtime against a world-class set-piece simply meant that at every point of the match they were trying to play catch up rugby. But this weekend he turned up and turned up big time as his massive scrummaging performance was the key to the Bok win. At times, their rolling maul stuttered (especially when Eben Etzebeth was in the bin) and their lineout was less than its certain self, with a number of squint throws from Malcolm Marx resulting in turnovers.
New Zealand's big bonus point victory over Wallabies at Eden Park enough for title as South Africa fail to pull away from Argentina.
They came either side of Argentina's third try, from centre Matรญas Moroni. Emiliano Boffelli kicked the conversion from out wide to make it 17-14 and South Africa had to scramble from then on just to end the tournament with a win. New Zealand beat Australia 40-14 in their final-round game in Auckland last night to set South Africa the imposing target, and the All Blacks retained their title and claimed their eighth triumph in 10 tournaments in the Rugby Championship era.
South Africa failed in their quest to win the Rugby Championship title as their 38-21 triumph over Argentina was not enough to usurp New Zealand.
They shifted play out to the left where Gonzalez was lurking. They looked to move the ball through the hands and off-load in contact, but unsurprisingly there were far too many errors. South Africaโs title aspirations were slipping away, even after they were awarded a penalty try. went to work at the contact area, resulting in consistent pressure on the visiting defence. In fact, once the hosts began to simplify matters, they created chances. The Springboks needed a bonus-point triumph and a 39-point gap between them and Los Pumas to usurp the All Blacks in the table but they came up against a resilient side.
New Zealand stayed in contention to defend their Rugby Championship title with a 40-14 victory over Australia at Eden Park.
That's what we've been trying to do the whole time, so it's really nice when it does happen." With the pressure continuing, Australia's Porecki pulled down an advancing All Blacks maul. Instead, ill-discipline became a factor and one that would remain prominent throughout the first half. New Zealand's set-piece dominance brought about their fourth try. South Africa did beat Argentina in Durban but the 38-21 scoreline saw the All Blacks retain their title. New Zealand out-scored Australia by five tries to two in a comprehensive victory at Eden Park; the All Blacks take the Rugby Championship title as the Springboks needed to secure a bonus point and beat Argentina by at least 39 points to overtake them