Player ratings: Argentina

Argentina completed a superb comeback to keep their hopes of a Rugby Championship title alive with a 29-28 victory over the Springboks.

In a near remake of the 1979 classic Rocky II, Los Pumas took an early beating from the powerful Boks, who raced into a 17 – 0 lead. This offensive onslaught spurred the South Americans into action, as they blitzed the Boks for four quick-fire tries to secure the knockout win.

Settling the visitor’s nerves, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach steadied the ship with a try on the stroke of half-time. From here, it appeared that the World Champions were ascending as Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok each added penalties to ease their side into a one-point lead.

Given one shot at victory in the 68th minute, Pumas flyhalf Tomas Albornoz drilled the go-ahead score. Scrapping and clawing their way through the next eleven minutes, Argentina overcame a misfiring line-out and scrum issues to hold out their visitors.

Coming to a shuddering halt, all of this hard work looked to be in vain as the Boks were awarded a penalty at the breakdown. Pointing to the posts, Manie Libbok stared down the shot that would quieten the noise around his challenges from the tee. Unfortunately for the Stormers standout, he would see his shot sail wide with seconds remaining on the clock.

Philip Bendon rates the Argentinean players!

1. Thomas Gallo – 7 
Held his own against Frans Malherbe following a sticky start for Los Pumas at scrum time. What sets the Bennetton loosehead apart however is his exceptional work rate in the loose. Although his trademark carrying game was absent his defensive shift through 59 minutes was exceptional with 11 tackles completed and a ton of rucks his.

2. Julian Montoya – 6.5
Ever present at the breakdown, it was a workhorse showing from the skipper who went for the full eighty. Completing 14 tackles, including one big-time dominant hit, the compact hooker led the way as his team stemmed the early Springbok attacking flow and worked their back into the contest.  For all his good work, his struggles at line-out time in the second half when Eben Etzebeth entered the fray will frustrate him as it went a long way towards putting them under unnecessary pressure.

3. Joel Sclavi – 8
Recovering from an early shunt by Ox Nche at scrum time, the La Rochelle anchor locked down his side of the scrum and grew into the game. Getting his hands on the ball, Sclavi would use all 137kg of his power to dot down for his team’s go-ahead try in the 26th minute. Extending his battle with Nche to open play, the pair came to blows on a few notable occasions, each getting their fair share of wins.

4. Franco Molina – 7
Pestering Ruan Nortje’s beautiful mind-level line-out calling with his ability to get in the air quickly, the Exeter Chiefs bound lock had a strong outing for the 55 minutes he was in the park. In the loose, Molina had a few telling tackles as he often looked to hold up the Bok carriers, which went some way to dulling the initially sharp South African attack.

5. Pedro Rubiolo – 7.5
One of the last men standing quite literally for Los Pumas in the pack, the lock was tasked with derailing the South African freight train, and he did just that. Topping the dominant tackle charts with 3 as part of his 13 total hits, the 21-year-old lived up to his billing as Los Pumas enforcer.

6. Pablo Matera – 7.5
Roaming the wide channels like a puma stalking its prey, Los Pumas did an exceptional job at working the powerhouse back row into mismatch positions. One such position led to his well-executed try as he ran a perfect support line and had the power and pace to finish it all off. Unfortunately, his day ended earlier than usual in the 55th minute with what appeared to be a knock.

7. Marcos Kremer – 6
Industrious and physical, Kremer did the hard yards today against a Bok pack hell-bent on going route one. Joining his long-time back row buddy Matera in departing earlier than normal, Kremer’s day was far from his statistical best with ‘just’ 7 tackles made, but he got stuck in and wrestled hard at the breakdown.

8. Joaquin Oviedo – 8
Slipping through tackles throughout his team’s storming comeback in the first half, the rangy number eight had a big-time game as a key carrier and link player for his side. His ability to make that crucial extra yard in contact with exceptional footwork is notable as his ability to get his hands free with his offloading game being a key feature in Felipe Contepomi’s vision for his team.

9. Gonzalo Bertranou – 8
Plucked from the action early in the second half, the streaky halfback ended his account with 26 passes, 4 carries and 40 meters made for a solid outing that was a key contributor to his team’s comeback from the early deficit. Thus his removal early in the second half was somewhat of a head scratcher with it being difficult to tell whether he was lagging from the heat or perhaps a knock.

10. Tomas Albornoz – 9
Epitomising all that was good about his team, the busy flyhalf poked and probed the Springbok defence to great effect. Shifting the point of attack, Albornoz utilised his pace to put the Springbok rush defence off balance by exposing the gaps left in the line. Either tucking and taking the ball himself or slipping a quick pass, Albornoz conducted the explosive Pumas attack masterfully. Ending his day as the top carrier for his team with 8 carries for 62 meters and 2 line breaks to go with his 14 points for an impressive.

11. Mateo Carreras – 8.5
Caught in no-man’s land for the Springboks’ opening try as his centres defended narrow for what was a well-executed set move. Ten minutes after missing his assignment, Carreras hit the mark with a superb support run line off Chocobares to get his team’s first try of the match. His hot run of form continued as he slipped between the Bok fringe defence before slipping the ball to Matera to get his team back into the contest. For the few times he gets caught out he more than makes up for it and once again topped the meters made chart with 63 as he delivered another electric performance.

12. Santiago Chocobares – 8.5
Muscular in contact, the Toulouse centre was the Argentine hammer as he straightened things up allowing his free roaming outside backs to run off his shoulders. Defensively, he linked well with his outside backs and stopped the Springboks’ ability to get front football from set plays with momentum-stunting tackles.

13. Lucio Cinti – 9
Driving through contact both in attack and defence, Cinti shut down the Boks’ wide attacking game with his 17 tackles, topping that stat line for his team. Outside of being caught narrow for Fassi’s opening try, Cinti was supreme in leading Los Pumas’s defensive line, pressurising the Boks into rushing passes. In attack, his ability to get around defenders before setting his outside backs free was top-notch.

14. Bautista Delguy – 4
Departing in the 50th minute following a generally quiet showing with 4 carries for 6 meters painting a relatively poor picture for the winger who was a bit of a non-factor.

15. Juan Cruz Mallia – 8.5
Clearly, the linchpin that holds the Argentine attack together, Mallia’s ability to morph from a strike-running and counter-attack threat to a second distributor, allows his team to paint different pictures for the defence to assess routinely. Taking on the defence, Mallia completed three offloads, which got his team rolling and put the Bok defence on the back foot.

Replacements

16. Ignacio Ruiz – 7.5
Spent his time roaming the park on the flank and didn’t look one bit out of place. Taking over from Kremer in the 62nd minute, the 23-year-old blasted the Boks in the tackle and was a constant threat around the breakdown.

17. Ignacio Calles – 6
Admirably holding his side of the scrum up rather than slipping his bind, the replacement loosehead simply couldn’t stop the power of the Bok bench. Mirroring his fellow prop replacement, Calles did just enough to clear his lines on Argentina’s feed and crucially didn’t concede a late penalty, albeit his team did at the subsequent breakdown.

18. Pedro Delgado -6
Blitzed by the Bok bench at scrum time, the tighthead certainly did not benefit from Argentina’s raft of injuries in the second row with back row Pablo Matera deputising in the role. To his credit, he held up just long enough for his team to clear their lines on their own feed and managed to avoid conceding a penalty at the final scrum.

19. Guido Petti – 7.5
Replaced Molina in the 55th minute and went to work at the coal face as he countered the firestorm that the Boks were raining down at the breakdown. Although his stats won’t jump off the sheet, the work he did cannot be underestimated, especially at scrum time, behind a front row that was under the cosh.

20. Juan Martin Gonzalez – 7.5
Brought oomph from the bench when he replaced the highly impressive Pablo Matera for the final 25 minutes. Strong in defence with 7 tackles, the back row pressurised the Bok backline with his pace off the line and battled hard at the breakdown.

21. Gonzalo Garcia – 7
Replaced Bertranou early in the second half and handled what became an arm wrestle pretty well without providing the attacking threat of his predecessor. To his credit, Garcia was exceptional at getting the ball out of the scrum double quickly to relieve the pressure his front row was under. All in all, it was a solid showing for the scrum half.

22. Santiago Carreras – 7
Came on and did exactly what he did against the Wallabies as a superb second distributor outside of Albornoz. Mixing in a long-range kicking game to get his team into strong positions, the Gloucester fullback was the perfect impact sub.

23. Matias Moroni – N/A
Only appeared for the final four minutes but played his part in the frenzied Pumas defence to close out the match.

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