Player ratings: Cannon fodder
The Pumas will have to do some soul-searching after their humiliating 13-73 hammering at the hands of the Springboks in Soweto on Saturday.
Ill discipline and dire defence, in that order, led to a record defeat for the Argentine against a fired-up South African side on Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day.
Their spirit was broken when hooker Eusebio Guinazu conceded a yellow card and a penalty try 29 minutes in and it was all downhill from there.
Quintin van Jaarsveld rates the Pumas players.
15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Great determination under the high ball before he succumbed to injury at the 30-minute mark.
5/10
14 Gonzalo Camacho
Used good footwork to evade a number of defenders.
6/10
13 Marcelo Bosch
Fell off the big Springbok centres after some promising early hits.
4/10
12 Felipe Contepomi (captain)
The veteran scored all his team’s points but he was a defensive liability and a step off the pace.
6/10
11 Juan Imhoff
Showed great presence of mind to hold up Jean de Villiers over the try-line and gained good ground.
6/10
10 Nicolas Sanchez
Started well enough with a couple of welcome touch finders but faded away behind a back-pedalling pack.
6/10
9 Martin Landajo
Didn’t get enough distance with his tactical-kicking and missed a couple of tackles.
5/10
8 Leonardo Senatore
Did his team no favours when he earned himself a yellow card for a dangerous tip tackle on JJ Engelbrecht in the 50th minute.
4/10
7 Juan Martin Leguizamon
Topped the Pumas’ tackling stats but also slipped a few and threw an ill-advised long pass that was duly intercepted by De Villiers.
6/10
6 Pablo Matera
Decent workrate and kept the mistakes to a minimum
6/10
5 Patricio Albacete
A big blow for the Pumas when the experienced Albacete suffered an early injury. Not enough time to be rated.
4 Manuel Carizza
Was dominated in all departments by the colossal Eben Etzebeth.
4/10
3 Matias Diaz
Conceded an early three points for a trip and failed in his objective to put the Springboks under pressure at scrum time.
3/10
2 Eusebio Guinazu
Had a nightmare. His first throw, which was woefully skew, set the tone for his shocker. His knock down of opposite number Adriaan Strauss’ pass was cynical and the key moment of the match. When he returned from the sin bin moments before half-time the match was already lost.
2/10
1 Juan Figallo
While his workrate was impressive, the specialist tighthead struggled at scrum time in the No.1 jersey. A victim of poor selection.
4/10
Replacements:
16 Agustin Creevy (on for Imhoff, 34th minute, on for Guinazu, 54th minute)
Had two strong runs but fell off tackles left and right and battled in the set pieces.
4/10
17 Nahuel Lobo (on for Diaz, 40th minute)
He, too, was outmuscled at scrum time and conceded a penalty.
3/10
18 Juan Pablo Orlandi (on for Figallo, 60th minute)
Coasted through his cameo in comparison to the man he replaced.
3/10
19 Mariano Galarza (on for Carizza, 59th minute)
Had little to no impact with just the one line-out take to his name.
4/10
20 Julio Farias Cabello (on for Albacete, 13th minute)
Failed to bring any form of structure and stability to the line-out.
3/10
21 Tomas Cubelli (on for Landajo, 58th minute)
Did enough to stake a claim for a starting berth.
5.5/10
22 Santiago Fernandez
Not used.
23 Horacio Agulla (on for Hernandez, 30th minute)
Filled Hernandez’s boots quite well and gained the most metres for the visitors.
6/10
