Why Argentina may have lost Bok game even before running out
OPINION: The Springboks are the favourites heading into their one-off Test against Argentina, that is stating the obvious, but Los Pumas may just have lost the match even before kick-off.
The world champions are on an 11-match unbeaten streak and top the Nations Championship combined standings after sweeping aside England, Scotland, and Wales during the Southern Hemisphere leg.
Argentina, on the other hand, won just one of their three home games, a 35-21 result against Wales.
While South Africa made statements with record performances, beating every Six Nations and Rugby Championship team in the last 12 months along with Rassie Erasmus leading the Boks into a record-breaking 55th Test as head coach at Loftus, Argentina made the headlines for very different reasons.
*Also read: Rassie refuses to buy into Argentina discipline debate
They were disgraceful in their 24-31 defeat to a 13-man England, with their behaviour after the final whistle stealing the show in what had already been a chaotic game up to that point.
The match set the record for the most yellow cards in a single Test, seven, with England copping four and Felipe Contepomi’s men three.
Things boiled over when Bautista Delguy’s try at the death – which would have leveled the scores had it been converted – was disallowed, with Angus Gardner seemingly keen to award the try, but ending up not doing so due to the television match official’s word.
Gardner initially awarded the try, but the TMO ruled that Delguy’s arm was in touch. No mention, however, was made of the two high tackles from England that prevented Delguy from scoring the try.
Technicalities aside, Argentina’s behaviour was disgusting.
Flyhalf Tomas Albornoz angrily confronted Gardner after the final whistle, throwing the ball to the ground and charging at the Australian match official, requiring physical restraint. He became the first player adjudicated under World Rugby’s new Match Official Abuse Sanction Process.
That match, in particular what went down after the final whistle, showed Argentina’s ill temper and lack of control, and that’s exactly what has them on the back foot even before this weekend’s kick-off.
Not only will their behaviour have the referee zooming in on their antics, and for good reason, but the Bok set-piece and attacking weapons will punish them with every penalty conceded and every yellow-card offence that reduces their on-field numbers.
After the first three rounds of the Nations Championship, the Springboks rank second, only behind France, for the most points scored while having a numerical advantage over the opposition.
For every 10 minutes playing against a team who were a player down due to a yellow card, South Africa scored 11.43 points on average in the Nations Championship, with Les Bleu beating them by a fractional 0.23 points.
Conversely, that potency and accuracy was also perfectly captured against Scotland in the second Test, when the hosts lost Ben-Jason Dixon to the sin bin without conceding any points in his absence. They didn’t fall onto the back foot due to that disruption either, instead running in three quick tries a few minutes after his return. When Kurt-Lee Arendse was wrongly yellow-carded against England the week before, the Boks conceded one try.
It’s hard to imagine any match official allowing Argentina to even get close to what they got up to in Santiago del Estero in round three, and if the hosts allow any ill-discipline to seep through in Buenos Aires, the Springboks will make sure that their clash is little more than an opposed training session in preparation for the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry epic.
