South Africa

South Africa, Sport, Maverick News

Brilliant Boks deliver first full Rugby Championship title after mauling Pumas

Before kick-off, lock Eben Etzebeth was honoured for making his 128th Test appearance, surpassing the record he shared with Victor Matfield. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)

By Craig Ray

28 Sep 2024

The Springboks claimed the 2024 Rugby Championship title with a 48-7 win over Argentina in Nelspruit on Saturday. Beating the Pumas to confirm the 2024 Championship crown was the last, missing piece to complete their modern-day canon of excellence.

The Boks capped a brilliant 2024 Rugby Championship campaign with a statement victory over Argentina that underlined South Africa’s superiority throughout the tournament.

The Boks scored seven tries to one, as the Pumas wilted in the face of their ferocity, to secure a title that added to last year’s World Cup crown to cement this generation as the greatest ever in green and gold.

They’ve won it all in the past five years and changed the face of the game while utilising their innovation and brilliance. Beating the Pumas to confirm the 2024 Rugby Championship crown was the last, missing piece to complete their modern-day canon of excellence.

In front of a sold-out Mbombela Stadium, the Boks made a fast start and never relented.

Manie Libbok’s kick-off was precise, trapping the Pumas deep. The visitors could not escape for the next seven minutes as a rampant Boks’ team pinned them back.

Argentina conceded four penalties in the red zone in that opening period before the wonderful fullback Aphelele Fassi exploded onto a beautiful Libbok pass to score the game’s opening try.

Aesthetically, it was a try that encapsulated the serene beauty of rugby within the astonishingly physical aspects of the contest. There is no sport quite like it and there are few teams that have played it as well as these Springboks.

The excellent Aphelele Fassi scored two tries as the Boks ran out 48-7 winners over the Pumas in their Rugby Championship match at Mbombela Stadium. (Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images)

Bok fullback Aphelele Fassi slips into contact, which unfortunately led to a serious knee injury for Pumas centre Santiago Chocobares. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)

Bounce back

After last week’s blip in Santiago del Estero, where a mix-and-match team lost 29-28, the Boks rolled out the heavy artillery for the return clash in Nelspruit.

And they laid waste to the Pumas to obliterate any questions about the identity of the best team in the game.

It was the Boks’ first Rugby Championship title since 2019. It was also their first full, double-round Championship win in this format since Argentina were included in 2012.

Along the way the Boks secured five wins out of six games — the most they have ever achieved in a single campaign. The Boks also beat the All Blacks twice to take their sequence over the old enemy to four wins in a row — the most in the professional era. That ensured their first Freedom Cup since 2009.

The Boks also won back-to-back Tests in Australia in consecutive weeks for the first time since 1971.

Read more: Error-strewn Boks blow chance to secure Rugby Championship crown as Pumas win in Santiago

It was a record-breaking campaign, achieved while using 35 players to widen the player pool and build depth, with an eye to the next Rugby World Cup in 2027.

The All Blacks of 2012 and 2013 might have boasted undefeated campaigns, but they never came close to using more than two full teams in their quests.

Rassie Erasmus and his team have not only continued to Hoover up silverware, but done it while building for the medium and long-term as well. These are truly heady days in South African rugby.

Stamping their authority

In some ways the match mirrored the previous contest in Santiago, with the Boks making a fast start. Only this time, Argentina did not fight back in the same fashion as they had a week earlier.

The Pumas didn’t help themselves with an ill-disciplined display after going through their previous 12 Tests without a yellow card.

They conceded seven penalties to the Boks’ one in the first half, and had two yellow cards and a red card. It was shambolic.

Mateo Carreras takes out Bok fullback Aphelele Fassi in the air. It led to a yellow card for the Pumas wing. (Photo: Johan Orton/Gallo Images)

Wing Mateo Carreras was yellow-carded for taking Fassi out in the air in the 29th minute. Flank Pablo Matera initially received a yellow card for a shoulder straight to Vincent Koch’s head. It was a ridiculously violent and thuggish act and was rightly upgraded to red.

Twelve minutes from the end, fullback Santiago Carreras was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kurt-Lee Arendse clear to the tryline.

Read more: Manie Libbok is an excellent rugby player, but can Boks keep excusing his goal-kicking flaws?

After Fassi’s opening score, which was converted by scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse — and not Libbok, who was relieved of the goal-kicking duties — the Boks were in command. The Boks kept up the pressure.

Du Toit, who produced another otherworldly performance where he was seemingly everywhere all at once, added a second try with less than 15 minutes gone.

The great man picked the ball up from the base of a ruck and dived over the top, stretching out a long arm to dot down.

The Pumas struck back with their only decent attack of the half, which flyhalf Tomás Albornoz finished. It appeared for a moment that a comeback was coming, but the Boks snuffed out those thoughts with ruthlessness.

The Boks’ scrum was again immense, winning four penalties alone. Ox Nché was again magnificent, buckling the unfortunate Joel Scalvi and his replacement Ignacio Calles into facsimiles of Test props.

Centre Damian Allende, as usual made the hard yards, No 8 Jasper Wiese carried with extraordinary power, and captain Siya Kolisi was colossal at the breakdown and with his linking play.

Jaw-dropping

Among all those towering performances, it was the diminutive Cheslin Kolbe who made the jaw drop.

His ability and willingness to carry into contact, seeking metres where none were to be found, was stunning for its bravery, power and guile. But it was his ice-cool temperament and ability to produce a clever offload or deft pass while being mowed down by three defenders, that set him apart.

The otherworldly Cheslin Kolbe produced another masterclass on the wing as the Boks ran riot in Nelspruit. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)

Bok wing Cheslin Kolbe leaves Pumas scrumhalf Gonzalo Garcia in a heap. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)

No one has such clarity of thought while doing a million things at warp speed as Kolbe. He is one of a kind and it was fitting that he scored a great try at the end of the half, using his sublime stepping to finish, to cap off his magnificent outing.

While points were harder to come by after halftime, the Boks eventually added more tries through hooker Malcolm Marx from a rolling maul, Du Toit from close range and centre Jesse Kriel, who ran on to a clever Handrè Pollard kick.

The various scorers and the wide-range of tries, that encompassed all of rugby’s varied skills, was a fitting denouement to the tournament.

Before kick-off, lock Eben Etzebeth was honoured for making his 128th Test appearance, surpassing the record he shared with Victor Matfield. (Photo: Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images)

There was also the achievement of a record 128th Test cap for Eben Etzebeth. It was the perfect performance to honour one of South Africa’s greatest players.

The Boks are a team in every sense of the word and they embrace all types of characters and athletes. This was the ultimate team performance, produced by the ultimate team. DM

Scorers:

South Africa – Tries: Aphelele Fassi (2), Pieter-Steph du Toit (2), Cheslin Kolbe, Malcom Marx, Jesse Kriel. Conversions: Jaden Hendrikse (2), Handrè Pollard (3). Penalty: Hendrikse.

Argentina – Try: Tomás Albornoz. Conversion: Albornoz.

Categories:

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

South Africa

Bounce back

Stamping their authority

Jaw-dropping

Scorers: