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Pumas break their duck against SA

There was history in the air at KINGS Park on Saturday.

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South Africans would not like any of it but Argentinians would love it all. And they deserve to love it all.

They deserved their victory over the Junior Springboks in 1965 and they deserved this one 50 years later over the Springboks. They celebrated with glee at Ellis Park in 1965 and they repeated their joy in 2015.

South Africa played a part in the development of rugby in Argentina, from the time of Barry Heatlie in 1905 to the Junior Springboks and Gazelles teams an to Izak van Heerden who coached there. Then South Africa took them on their first tour abroad in the 1965, gave them a the nickname of the Pumas and let them win in Johannesburg.

For these and other  reasons the Springboks are far and away the most popular 'other' team amongst the rugby followers of Argentina. Because they love and admire the Springboks so much they are a benchmark and beating them. and it happened in 965 and it happened in 2015.

The survivors of the team of 1965 were in Durban on Saturday. When the Argentinian national anthem was sung the men of 1965 – gray-haired and heavier, in suits with white shirts and plain blue ties – lined up and faced the 2015 side about to go into battle. And after the final whistle, the victorious players of 1965 came and faced the old men of 1965 in great joy. It was a touching affair.

On Saturday at Kings Park, the Pumas left wing scored a hat-trick of tries. His name is Juan José Imhoff. One of the players in 1965 was José Luis Imhoff, Juan's father and at one stage the Pumas' coach.

The Springboks made undesirable history – the first Springbok team to lose to the Pumas and the first Springbok team not to win a match in the four-team Rugby Championship. But then nobody waves a wooden spoon triumphantly.

On this last day of the Rugby Champions four teams played – three with enthusiasm and intent. And then there were the Springboks.

From first whistle to last the Pumas were alert and determined. They were creative and did clever thins, when they kicked it made sense. Their passing was quick and crisp and they dominated the tackle area by putting more players into it and thew ruled the scrums

The scrums were a mess and the Springboks were the ones blamed for the mess. There were 13 scrums in the match and there were 14 collapses. There were six penalties at scrums – four against the Springboks.

From the second minute of the match to the 80th, the Springboks were behind.

Handré Pollard kicked off and Willie le Roux's first act was to kick an up-'n-under. The next thing the Springboks were scrambling on their line. They kicked out and from the line-out on their left Juan Martín Hernández, the Puma flyhalf, passed back inside to left wing Juan Imhoff and the strong man burst through between Marcell Coetzee and Lood de Jager. Challenged by Jesse Kriel he passed to Marcelo Bosch on his right and the experienced centre scored at the posts. 7-0 after two minutes.

South Africa did a bit of attacking with penalty, line-out and maul and when Marcos Ayerza was penalised at a scrum, Pollard made it 7-3 after 8 minutes.,

The Pumas were enjoying possession and territory. Thomas Cubelli broke fro a tackle/ruck and gave to Imhoff who scored under the posts. 14-3 after 22 minutes.

A Pollard penalty made it 14-6 but then came a bizarre try.

The Pumas were down near the South African line where the Springboks were penalised. A Puma was hurt and medics flooded the field. One was standing next to the referee when the Pumas No.8 Leonardo Senatore who tapped and passed to Imhoff on his left and the wing ran the unimpeded five metres to score in the corner. There were South Africa protests but the referee said he had said time was on, which may be true but then he said it very quietly. Hernández converted from touch and the Pumas led 21-6 after 32 minutes.

In the eight minutes remaining in the half Jean de Villiers broke and had a long run till tackled just a metre short of the line. The Pumas were penalised and the Springboks kicked out for a five-metre line-out. Schalk Burger went up to win the line-out and played to De Jager coming round and huge lock rounded the end of the line-out and with three defenders clinging to him reached out for a try. 21-13. But there was still time for Hernández to kick a penalty and Bosch a 50-metre penalty goal to make the score 27-13/

In the second half Pollard kicked and the Pumas countered. The Springboks were penalised, the Pumas tapped and Imhoff scored his third try. 34-13 after 43 minutes and South African supporters were paralysed.

The only other Puma score in the match was a dropped goal by Bosch but Reinach was over for what looked like a try. It was surprising that the referee referred it to the TMO till it was clear that he had tapped the penalty well in front of the place of infringement.

The Springboks used up their substitutes and when Coetzee was helped off with a damaged leg, Lwazi Mvovo, a wing, took the flank's place and so Damian de Allende moved from centre to flank.

The Springboks scored an excellent try when, near the half-way line, De Villiers got a clever pass to Kriel who darted ahead and gave inside to Le Roux who raced to score. 34-20 after 49 minutes.

With two minutes left De Allende tapped a scrum penalty five metres from the Puma line and Le Roux flung a long pass to unmarked Bryan Habana who scored a try to make the final score 37-25.

Go through all the ifs and buts there was no way of suggesting that the Springboks deserved to win this match.

Afterwards Jean de Villiers paid tribute to the Pumas and called the Springbok performance embarrassing..

It was embarrassing. You have to go back to 1964-65 to find anything comparable.

The last lines of the Argentinian national that the Pumas sang is Coronados de gloria vivamos o juremos con gloria morir. (Let us live crowned with glory or swear to die gloriously.) These 2015 Pumas can, like those of 1965, go on to live many years as glorious heroes of their land.

Man of the Match: Juan Imhoff got three tries, Juan  Martín Hernández had flashes of his old magic and Agustín Creevy was a tough hooker who often behaved like a loose forward but our choice was live-wire scrumhalf Thomas Cubelli, who made it clear what a difference a scrumhalf makes.

Moment of the Match: Marcelo Bosch's try.

Villain of the Match: None of the players. The manners were good.

The scorers:

For South Africa:

Tries: De Jager, Le Roux, Habana

Cons: Pollard 2

Pens: Pollard, Pieaar

For Argentina:

Tries: Bosch, Imhoff 3

Cons: Hernández 4

Pens: Hernández 2

DG: Bosch

Teams:

 

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.

 

Argentina: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Marcos Ayerza.

Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Matías Díaz, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Martín Landajo, 2 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino.

 

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)

TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

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