South Africa retained the Rugby Championship championship after defeating Argentina

South Africa defeated Argentina 29-27 at Twickenham on Saturday to win the Rugby Championship again, surpassing New Zealand on points difference thanks to a strong second half from the formidable Springbok pack.

South Africa needed a bonus-point victory to win the title handily after the All Blacks defeated Australia 28–14 in Perth earlier, although any win would suffice due to their huge points advantage.

However, following a clumsy start, they were down 13-3 and 13-10 at the half before forward drives allowed Malcolm Marx to score two tries and Cobus Reinach to score a second, putting them ahead 29-13.

The scoreboard was close due to late Pumas points, but South Africa won the championship for the sixth time. South Africa’s point differential was plus-57 to the All Blacks’ plus-eight, despite the fact that they and New Zealand finished with 19 points. Argentina finished with 10 points and Australia with 11.

Man-of-the-match Reinach remarked, “It’s unbelievable, we talked about it (lifting the trophy) the entire week.” “We hadn’t before won it back-to-back. Although we still have a long way to go, we are making progress.

“We were aware that we wouldn’t simply dash out here and knock them down. Argentina is incredible, and it takes teams 60 or 70 minutes to defeat the opposition. They fight all game, and they have a lot of dog in them.

Argentina assumes the lead early.

Argentina officially had a home game at Twickenham, and they will make up the difference in attendance with their portion of the 70,300 gate receipts.

They established a 7-0 lead early on thanks to a spectacular finish from winger Bautista Delguy. Despite having a lot of possession and a strong scrum, South Africa committed a number of handling mistakes.

Santiago Carreras, who was moved from flyhalf to fullback following last week’s thrashing in Durban, scored two penalties late in the first half, keeping them behind 13-3.

Before scrumhalf Reinach found an opening to cut the lead to 13-10 before halftime, the Springboks’ dominant scrum finally paid off, gaining a string of penalties near the Argentina line.

For a moment, it appeared as though a rematch would be imminent as South Africa defeated the Pumas 67-30 after leading 25-23 at halftime the previous week.

After 43 minutes, Argentina prop Mayco Vivas was sent off for a high hit, and the South African pack quickly seized the opportunity to throw Marx over.

As South Africa appeared to have complete control at 29–13, a persistent barrage of attacks once more created room for Reinach to slip through for his second, and another offensive surge concluded with Marx also scoring a second.

After 65 minutes, Delguy scored an interception try, but the trophy was guaranteed to go to the post when Carreras hit the post with a penalty three minutes from the end.

The majority of the green-clad crowd was already cheering as Carreras’ conversion went between the posts, but Argentina substitute Rodrigo Isgro had the final say after he gathered a beautiful wide kick by Carreras to score in the corner.

Felipe Contepomi, the coach of Argentina, stated, “I don’t think it was a game that got away because we weren’t winning and we lost it.” “We persevered through the entire game, and I believe we played some excellent rugby.

We also made an effort to play a quick-paced, exciting game. It worked sometimes. We would have preferred the scrum to be a bit better, but we are aware that they are the world’s greatest team in that regard.

“So, congrats. The team that played better, took advantage of the possibilities, and was the best team today, in my opinion, won the tournament. There is no question about that.