Springboks bounce back from defeat to win comfortably in Argentina

The Springboks bounced back from their loss to Argentina a week earlier with a convincing 26-12 win away from home at a packed Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires on Saturday. The visitors scored two tries, both of which you can see here below if you missed the game.

Pat Lambie, who came in for a somewhat out of form Handre Pollard, ran the show from flyhalf, kicking two conversions, three penalties and a drop goal, while Bryan Habana and Lwazi Mvovo scored well taken tries (see them below). 

Argentina were bullish in contact again, making some really good low tackles, but with changes in selection and clearly mindshift too, the Springboks looked in control throughout.

Except perhaps for the very first minute of the game, when hat-trick hero Juan Imhoff came within inches of scoring another try, but lock Eben Etzebeth galloped back to knock him out.

“This is a very harsh environment to play in and it’s very tough every time you come here,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer. “They (Argentina) were on a high after beating us last weekend and we were under pressure all week, but this is the type of game we can expect at the Rugby World Cup and I’m very proud of the players.

“I thought we played tactically very well. We came close against Australia and New Zealand, when we played more rugby, but we adapted tactically very well here.

“I’m also very proud that we didn’t concede a try, away from home. A lot of players put up their hands and came through today. We know our performance last week was not good enough, but today I’m very relieved and very proud.

“We will put in a couple of weeks of very hard training now and then cut back before the Rugby World Cup. With a number of top players coming back, I’m very positive and I know we will be able to pick a very strong squad.”

The victory didn’t improve South Africa’s ranking points, where they sit in the unfamiliar position of fifth following losses to Australia, New Zealand and last week, Argentina.