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Boks pummel Pumas in Mandela match

Brad Morgan

11 August 2008

The Springboks paid a handsome tribute to former President Nelson Mandela by celebrating his 90th birthday with a 63-9 thrashing of Argentina in Johannesburg. The world champions started slowly, but produced champagne rugby in the second half as they ran in 49 points without reply.

It is early in the season for the Pumas and it showed in their performance as the floodgates opened after the first 30 minutes during which the visitors took a 9-0 lead.

Up until that point, Argentina were full value for their lead and an upset looked as if it could be on the cards, but suddenly the Springboks evolved from a sloppy, misfiring team into a cohesive unit that manufactured some sparkling tries.

Numerous errors

It didn't start out well for the home team. From the kickoff, Victor Matfield failed to claim the catch and the ball was kicked into touch by the Pumas. It was the first of numerous errors in a shocking first half-an-hour for South Africa who, frankly, looked awful during the early going.

In the third minute after the Springboks spilled the ball, the South Americans counter-attacked and forced a penalty at a ruck right in front of the South African uprights. Pumas' captain Felipe Contepomi slotted the opportunity to put his side 3-0 in front.

Contepomi had a chance to extend Argentina's lead five minutes later when the Boks were penalised for coming in from the side at a ruck. His kick, from a wide angle, was on target and the Argentinians led 6-0.

After 18 minutes, Contepomi had a third shot at goal when the Springboks conceded yet another penalty. This time, though, his kick missed to the right and the score stayed the same.

Nine points behind

In the 23rd minute, the Pumas extended their advantage when South Africa were blown up for being offside at a ruck. Contempomi's kick was right down the middle and Victor Matfield and company had fallen nine points behind.

Just before the half hour mark Argentina came close to scoring a try. They hacked a loose ball towards the South African try line and Matfield failed to control it when he fell on the ball just two metres from the whitewash. Bismarck du Plessis could have been ruled offsides in the mayhem that followed, but referee Wayne Barnes ruled that it had been accidental.

Eight minutes from the break, South Africa finally got onto the board. The scoring move, fortunately for the Boks, began with a poor pass from scrumhalf Ricky Januarie that sailed way over the head of flyhalf Butch James.

First SA try

Inside centre Jean de Villiers was forced to go back and field the ball. He did brilliantly by spinning around and splitting two Pumas' defenders. Finding open space, he raced up the field. He then drew the last defender and offloaded to Adrian Jacobs, who had an easy run in for the try. James converted to pull the Boks back to 7-9 down.

Three minutes later South Africa hit the front. They moved the ball quickly from a breakdown to the left. Debutant Jongi Nokwe then ghosted between two defenders and wrong-footed a third to score a fantastic first try in the green and gold. James added the extras to put SA 14-9 ahead.

Shortly after the start of the second half the Springboks scored a superb try to move well clear of the Pumas. After Luke Watson had passed to JP Pietersen, the wing put in a clever chip kick that sat up nicely for Pierre Spies to run onto and cross for SA's third five-pointer. James goaled the easy conversion to ease South Africa into a 21-9 lead.

On a roll

It took another five minutes for the Boks to score again. Spies set up Pietersen with a bullocking run and the wing rounded the Argentinian defence to score, incredibly, only his first try of the season. James continued his run of kicking success and suddenly South Africa were well clear at 28-9 up.

With only 12 minutes played of the half, coach Peter de Villiers sent on Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, and Percy Montgomery, who won his 99th cap.

Two minutes later, Du Preez got his name on the scoreboard. Some smart handling gave him a small gap and he burst through towards the tryline. He was ankle-tapped about five metres out but kept his feet long enough to crash over. James knocked over the conversion to extend South Africa's lead to 35-9.

Argentina then came extremely close to scoring a try of their own. Jose Maria Nuñez Piossek was given some space to run on the Pumas' right hand flank. Jaque Fourie raced across to cut him off, but Piossek cut inside, wrong-footing the Springbok, who slipped and smashed head-on-head into the Pumas' player.

Piossek looked like he was in, but Luke Watson put in a fantastic cover tackle to force one of his feet into touch just before Piossek planted the ball over the tryline.

Fourie injured

Sadly for Fourie, who had returned to the team after a long time out with injury, and who had been on the field for only five minutes, he had suffered what was suspected to be a fractured cheekbone and had to leave the game.

With just over an hour played, Joe van Niekerk, who had come off the bench to win his 50th cap, celebrated it in style with a try. Adi Jacobs made the running with a superb break and when he was caught only metres from the tryline, he popped up the ball for Van Niekerk to score. James knocked over the easy conversion to put South Africa 42-9 ahead.

It took just two more minutes for the Springboks to score another try. Excellent interplay among the forwards once again saw the Pumas outnumbered out wide and Van Niekerk was again on hand to take the scoring pass and race around to dot down under the posts. James' easy conversion kick took the score up to 49-9.

With nine minutes to play the rampant Boks went over for yet another try. The Pumas tried a long throw-in just five metres from their tryline, but James was alert to it and snatched the ball out of the air. From the ruck, Du Preez fed Du Plessis, who was charging around the right hand side and into a gap. He dragged a man over the line and smashed to ground for the five-pointer. James' radar remained perfect and South Africa extended their lead to an astonishing 56-9.

Coup de grace

The coup de grace came in the 77th minute when Watson, who had played his finest match in the Springbok jersey, won a ball at the breakdown and set South Africa on the counter-attack.

Andries Bekker made good ground up the middle of the ragged Argentinian defence and offloaded the ball. Matfield was involved twice before James passed to Pietersen. The winger chipped through, toed the ball ahead just in front of a diving defender, and gathered a very kind bounce to score his second try of the game. James rounded it off with another conversion to make it 63-9.

It seemed Argentina would have the final say in the game when Juan Manuel Leguizamon forced his way over the Springbok tryline just before the end. However, the decision was referred to the television match official and the replay clearly showed him losing the ball as he dived over the line.

When the final whistle sounded, South Africa had scored their biggest win ever over the team they faced in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup in October 2007.

Halftime talk

Asked what had sparked the dramatic improvement in the South African performance after halftime, Bok captain Victor Matfield said he had simply told the players not to give 50/50 passes, maintain possession, have patience, and make the game a little tighter. It worked a treat and ultimately allowed the Springboks to open up and play a more expansive game.

While they will be thrilled with their stylish victory, the Boks have little time to celebrate because it's back down to the tough business of the Tri-Nations on Saturday when they take on the All Blacks in Cape Town.

They will certainly be without the services of the unlucky Jaque Fourie. Worringly, Bakkies Botha might also miss the match. He was substituted early in the Mandela Challenge match after picking up a knee injury.

Coach De Villiers, however, will be able to call on two men who have won the IRB Player of the Year award - Bryan Habana and Schalk Burger. It's an enviable position to be in.