All credit to South Africa and Argentina. Nobody would have blamed them if they had promoted their reserves and gone through the motions for the grandly titled bronze final of the Rugby World Cup today.
Instead, the Springboks selected their strongest possible lineup, and the Pumas made nine changes, four of them enforced by injuries and the rest mindful of a five-day turnaround — one day less than South Africa.
Boks coach Heyneke Meyer dismissed the consolation playoff immediately after their 20-18 semi-final loss to New Zealand last weekend, but changed his mind because he did not want to devalue the Springboks jersey, or drop his standards.
Photo: AFP
“It is the toughest week to go in, when your hopes and dreams are shattered, and then you have to go out and put in a quality performance,” he said. “You need that mental toughness.”
Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez was the only regular not picked after he suffered a swollen cheekbone and broken tooth in the semi-final. Ruan Pienaar replaces Du Preez, and 38-year-old Victor Matfield starts in place of Lood de Jager for the 127th and final Test of his career. Matfield also takes over the captaincy from Du Preez, whose Test career is now over.
It was noticeable in comments by the Springboks that they put a priority on giving the likes of Matfield and Schalk Burger a fitting send-off and making their country proud, rather than finishing third.
Typical was Matfield’s second-row partner Eben Etzebeth, who said: “For us it has been the toughest week of our lives. It is my [24th] birthday tomorrow [yesterday] and I don’t feel like celebrating it. We need to get up for it and we’ll be doing it for the Springbok shirt.”
“We’ll go out and do it for South Africa,” Etzebeth said.
Only six Pumas starters from the 29-15 semi-final loss to Australia are to start at the Olympic Stadium: Props Marcos Ayerza and Ramiro Herrera, lock Tomas Lavanini, flanker Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez and winger Santiago Cordero.
Injured out of contention were captain and hooker Agustin Creevy (torn hamstring), inside center Juan Martin Hernandez (ribs), winger Juan Imhoff (concussion) and fullback Joaquin Tuculet (shoulder). All will be badly missed.
Sanchez, the tournament’s leading point-scorer with 89, is to lead the Pumas for the first time.
The Pumas have beaten South Africa only once, in August in Durban. The Springboks took the return match in Buenos Aires, their 19th win in 21 Tests.
South Africa won their only third-place match in 1999, against New Zealand, and Argentina did the same in 2007, thrashing hosts France.
Ayerza is one of five survivors from that 2007 match and was struggling to accept this might be his last outing for the Pumas. Players have to be in Super Rugby from next year to be considered for the national team. Fernandez Lobbe and winger Horacio Agulla also find themselves on the wrong side of the rule.
Ayerza, arguably the world’s best loosehead, hoped the rule would change one day, because by the next Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019 he will be 36, “which is not an unusual age for a prop.”
There will also be a third-place match in 2019, World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper said.
“This is a great fixture,” he said. “Teams over the years have fought very hard to position themselves as the third-best side.”
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the
FLOP TO CONQUEROR: It was sweet vindication for Sam Darnold, who played for four NFL teams before his debut season in Seattle ended in the ultimate win The Seattle Seahawks on Sunday coasted to Super Bowl glory, routing the New England Patriots 29-13 as Sam Darnold sealed his journey from flop quarterback to conqueror of the NFL’s biggest prize. Brushing off a reputation for wilting in big games, journeyman quarterback Darnold threw for a touchdown and 200 yards on the grandest stage of all to give the Seahawks their second-ever Lombardi Trophy. “It’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Darnold said. The victory was buoyed by a dominant defensive display and kicker Jason Myers’
RSS