Narrow win for South Africa over Argentina in gritty clash

South Africa came from behind to secure an unconvincing 17-10 victory over Argentina in their test on Saturday before they take on New Zealand in a four-test series, starting later this month.

The Springboks' tries at Velez Sarsfield came from Edwill van der Merwe and Cameron Hanekom, while flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked over a penalty and conversion and substitute Handre Pollard added one conversion.

Benjamin Grondona scored a try for Argentina, who had several first-choice players unavailable because of club commitments in Europe. There was also a penalty and conversion from Santiago Carreras.

The clash was a chance for South Africa to warm up before they take on the All Blacks and while the Boks left a large number of their likely first choice picks at home, they had key flyhalf Feinberg-Mngomezulu and World Cup-winning veterans Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth and captain Siya Kolisi back in a bid to prove their fitness before the first test against New Zealand on August 22.

However, Kolisi, back in the team after an injury, limped off after 25 minutes after hurting his hamstring again, potentially ending any chance he has of leading the team against New Zealand.

“I’ll have to go for a scan and see how bad it is but it’s really tough, but I can’t be sad about it because there is nothing I can do about it,” Kolisi said.

TOUGH BATTLE EXPECTED

“We expected a tough battle against Argentina and our cohesion wasn’t there, with a lot of players coming back from injury but our opponents were very passionate and made it tough. This was great preparation for the series against New Zealand."

The two sides traded early penalties before Grondona darted over for the first try after a clever pop pass caught out the Bok defences.

The match then turned into a scrappy affair with a multitude of mistakes as the kicking game from both sides was largely inaccurate and failed to deliver any impetus.

It was only on the stroke of halftime that South Africa managed to pull level after some slick handling down the backline before winger Van der Merwe outsprinted the home defence to dot down under the posts to make it 10-10 at the break.

Stout Argentine defence kept South Africa’s repeated attacks at bay as the world champions dominated the second half but after 63 minutes they went ahead for the first time in the game as a powerful scrum near the Argentine lines drove the Pumas off their feet and allowed Cameron Hanekom to go over for his first test try.

A tap penalty for Argentina in the last minute presented the hosts with a chance to tie the game and they went through 15 phases before setting up winger Matias Moreno wide on the left wing, only for him to drop the ball and end hopes of levelling matters.