Rugby Championship 2024: South Africa denied title with game to spare following Argentina defeat - ‘It hurts a lot"
Updated 28/09/2024 at 20:09 GMT+1
South Africa will have to wait to get their hands on the 2024 Rugby Championship title after falling to defeat to Argentina in their penultimate match. They lead the table with a game to spare, but play second-place Argentina again in their final game. “It hurts a lot, I assure you. We have to point the fingers at ourselves," Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus said after the match.
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World champions South Africa were beaten 29-28 by Argentina in the 2024 Rugby Championship to stop them wrapping up the title with a match to spare.
Had Rassie Erasmus' Springboks side claimed victory in Argentina, they would have sealed a second title since the tournament's expansion in 2012, ending New Zealand’s dominant four-year run.
But as it was, Argentina clinched a dramatic victory as they solidified themselves in second spot, taking the tournament to the final round of matches.
“The loss is not nice, but for some of the younger guys to experience this stadium and how Argentina loosen up the game, it will help them in the future," South Africa head coach Erasmus said after the game.
“It hurts a lot, I assure you. We have to point the fingers at ourselves, not just the players but also the coaches and the management."
Temporary South Africa's captain Salmaan Moerat added: “Congratulations to Argentina, they stuck at it and did not go away.
“They put us under a lot of pressure but we played good rugby for much of the game."
Tries from Aphelele Fassi and Jesse Kriel put the hosts in firm control of the match, before Mateo Carreras, Pablo Matera, Joel Sclavi and Tomas Albornoz contributed to an impressive turnaround.
Fassi got the visitors off the mark inside four minutes, before Kriel swiftly extended the Springboks’ advantage four minutes later with Handre Pollard nailing both conversions for a 14-0 lead.
The latter scored an easy penalty to put South Africa further in front, but Carreras began the hosts' resurgence with a try after 15 minutes in their first real attack of the match.
Matera reduced South Africa’s advantage to three points, before Sclavi gave Argentina the lead for the first time in the match, crossing the line before the half-hour mark to complete a quickfire turnaround.
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Albornoz gave the home side a nine-point cushion, but South Africa responded before the half-time break through Cobus Reinach to set up an exciting second half.
There was not as much action in the second period, but it quickly became tense when Pollard converted a penalty three minutes after the break to close the gap to a single point.
Another penalty came South Africa’s way, and Manie Libbok scored to lift the visitors back in front, but Albornoz restored Argentina’s lead with a penalty of their own ten minutes before the full-time whistle.
The hosts held on for a famous win, inflicting South Africa's first defeat in five games and their first of this year’s Rugby Championship.
They remain in pole position to snap up their first title since 2019 and welcome Argentina to Mbombela Stadium at the end of the month in the return fixture as they bid to seal the trophy.
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Watch and stream every game of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season, the 2024 Autumn Nations Series and Premiership Women's Rugby on TNT Sports and discovery+
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