The Springboks retained the Castle Lager Rugby Championship with a hard-fought, but well-deserved 29-27 win over Argentina at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, coming back from a 13-10 deficit at half-time to clinch a memorable win in London.

The win sealed a second consecutive title, with New Zealand, who earlier in the day outplayed Australia in Perth, in second place. Both teams had 19 log points, but the Springboks had a +57 points’ difference, considerably better that the All Blacks’ +8.

Argentina held a three-point lead at halftime, but conceded 19 points without reply to lose their grip on the match. Los Pumas did score two tries in the final 10 minutes to cut the lead, but left it too late to stop the Springboks from claiming another famous win in front of more than 70,000 supporters at the home of England Rugby.

It was certainly a matter of hot and cold for the Boks, who had a poor first half, a brilliant first 30 minutes in the second half and then a rather ineffective last 10 minutes of their campaign. Be that as it may, they defended the title and it is clear to see why they are ranked number one in the world.

Scorers:

Argentina 27 (13) – Tries: Bautista Delguy (2), Rodrigo Isgro. Conversions: Santiago Carreras (3). Penalty goals: Carreras (2).

Springboks 29 (10) – Tries: Cobus Reinach (2), Malcolm Marx (2). Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (3). Penalty goal: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Courtesy of SA Rugby.