Argentina edge out South Africa with a historic 29-28 win

Argentina 29-28 South Africa, Santiago del Estero

Manie Libbok missed a decisive penalty goal in the closing stage as Argentina edged out South Africa with a 29-28 victory in the fourth round of the Rugby Championship in Santiago del Estero on Saturday.

The result also meant South Africa have slipped to second place in the World Rugby Rankings with Ireland replacing him while Argentina have climbed to sixth place.

South Africa opened their account in the 4th minute as Handre Pollard sent a flat pass for Aphelele Fassi to touchdown. The South African fly half also kicked the conversion to make it 0-7.

The visitors doubled their tally in the 8th minute as Cobus Reinach sent a perfect offload for Jesse Kriel to cross over and Pollard kicked the conversion and a penalty goal to make it 0-17.

The Pumas struck back in the 15th minute when Santiago Chocobares set up Mateo Carreras over the line and Tomas Albornoz landed the conversion to make it 7-17.

The 18th minute saw South Africa were reduced to 14 players temporarily with Kurt-Lee Arendse sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Carreras and soon the gap came down to three points with Carreras guiding former captain Pablo Matera for their second try of the game and Albornoz landed the conversion.

Argentina went into the lead for the first time in the game as Joaquin Oviedo flicked a pass for Joel Sclavi to dot down but this time Albornoz missed the conversion. As the half time was approaching, Albornoz and Reinach traded tries as the teams completed the opening half with a 26-22 scoreline.

Pollard with an early penalty reduced the gap of the team to one point and soon followed it with another to put the Boks in front. The 68th minute saw Rassie Erasmus went into lead with a 35m penalty kick from Libbok and shortly a tap tackle from Fassi allowed Albornoz to convert a three-pointer making it 29-28.

With the full time approaching, South Africa had a chance to seal a victory but Libbok's penalty goal drifted wide as Argentina sealed a historic win.

Team line up:

Argentina XV: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo.

Reserves: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Matias Moroni.

South Africa XV: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.

Reserves: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Manie Libbok.