South Africa labored to a 13-6 win over Argentina in a game spoiled by driving rain and a water-soaked field on the opening day of the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks had a second-minute try through scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar before the rain poured down at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria to make it a match full of errors.
Both teams preferred to kick and play for field position rather than risk attacking with the ball in hand in slippery — and at times almost impossible — conditions.
Photo: Reuters
South Africa flyhalf Handre Pollard landed a conversion and a penalty, while his replacement Morne Steyn added a second-half penalty to keep the home team ahead throughout, but not without a huge fight from a dogged Argentina.
“Yeah, it wasn’t great, but we’re happy with the result. It’s a win and we’ll take it from here,” South Africa captain Jean de Villiers said.
Argentina have yet to win in 13 games in the championship, but scrummed far better than South Africa on Saturday, continually disrupted the No. 2-ranked team’s lineout and finished on the front foot, and hammered away at the Boks’ try line before a handling mistake by center Marcelo Bosch ended their final attack to finish the match.
The Pumas’ points came from two penalties by flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez, one early in the first half and one early in the second.
“We have been working a lot on the scrums and the lineouts,” Argentina captain and hooker Agustin Creevy said. “I thought the scrum was very good, but we have to be more patient to get better results.”
South Africa earned four points to lead the early standings in the southern hemisphere tournament after defending champions New Zealand were held to a 12-12 draw in Australia earlier on Saturday, also in wet and difficult weather in Sydney.
Back in Pretoria, Argentina took a bonus point for losing by seven points or less, but the perennial tournament underdogs enhanced their reputation by taking on the South Africa forwards and often coming out on top in those exchanges.
In the end, Pienaar’s converted score right at the start was the difference between the teams. With the field still reasonably dry, he broke from the back of a rolling maul and swapped passes with wing Cornal Hendricks down the short side, before speeding away to slide in at the right corner.
South Africa never looked like scoring another try as the pitch became a collection of puddles and a gritty Argentina were constantly competitive in the conditions.
“It was a great start to the game, but not a great start to the competition, I suppose,” De Villiers said. “I must say this must rate as one of the games with the worst conditions I’ve played in.”
In the first half, Argentina wing Manuel Montero dropped the ball when he looked to have a clear run to the line. South Africa fullback Willie le Roux also lost possession 5m out from the try line as he tried to collect his own chip ahead. They were two of very few attacks out wide by either side.
The rain eased in the second half, but the field was still water-logged, making it difficult to put any prolonged attacking plays together.
Near the end, the Pumas applied some pressure and the forwards drove their way to a meter out from the South Africa try-line before another fumble.
In the very last move of the contest, Argentina made a rare decision to send the ball out to the back line and Bosch dropped a difficult pass as the soap-like ball squirmed out of his grasp.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS