Match Centre: Argentina 20-36 South Africa

Argentina 20-36 South Africa, Estadio Libertadores De America

Malcolm Marx scored a double as South Africa kept their hope of winning the Rugby Championship title with a 36-20 win over Argentina in the fifth round at Estadio Libertadores De America on Sunday.

The result meant New Zealand and South Africa are in contention with 14 points heading into the final round. The All Blacks will be locking horns with Australia for the second time while South Africa will have a rematch against the Pumas with both the games scheduled on 24th September.

Argentina were the first to open their account following a long-range penalty kick from Emiliano Boffelli in the 9th minute but an infringement from the home side allowed South Africa to level the scores with a three-pointer from Damian Willemse.

Willemse had another long-range effort 14 minutes in, this time when Argentina blocked some runners from a Le Roux chip, but he pulled it to the left. Boffeli also had a second opportunity soon after, again from 50m, but pushed it to the right.

Just as the game entered the second quarter, Jaden Hendrikse looked threatening to score but a desperate tackle from Santiago Carreras at an offside position meant the referee had to sin-bin the Pumas fly-half while awarding a penalty try for the visitors making it 6-10.

The Boks looked threatening with another powerful drive as Malcolm Marx came close but was stopped. The visitors recycled and eventually Jaden Hendrikse dotted down in the 28th minute for their second try and Willemse improved it extend their tally to 6-17.

Just before the break, the Pumas were once again punished for their indiscipline as Gonzalo Bertranou was sin-binned for repeated infringements.

The Pumas looked impressive in the second half as they did not concede a point in the second half despite being down on the numerical advantage and their chances improved as Willie Le Roux was sin-binned in the 59th minute after he was caught offside.

Kwagga Smith followed le Roux to the sin bin for a try saving tackle that also resulted in a penalty try for the hosts making it 13-22. With the numerical advantage on their side, Matias Moroni powered over cutting down the deficit to two points.

With everything to play for in the final 10 minutes, South Africa managed to overcome the Argentina scare as De Allende powered through two tackles in the 75th minute and four minutes later Marx collected an inside pass from Makazole Mapimpi to secure his second try as the Springboks completed a 16 point victory.

Team line up:

Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Lucio Cinti, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Matias Moroni.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Retshegofaditswe Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Albertus Smith, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Francois Steyn.