Boks ease past Pumas in Salta

South Africa made it two wins out of two in the Rugby Championship after they beat Argentina 41-23 at Estadio Padre Ernesto Marlearena.

Crossings from Siya Kolisi (2), Elton Jantjies and Jean-Luc du Preez as well as a penalty try saw the Springboks to an impressive victory.

In reply the Pumas' scores came from Ramiro Moyano and Matias Moroni but they were hindered by a red card from lock Tomas Lavanini.

Argentina took an early lead on four minutes when wing Emiliano Boffelli showed off his powerful boot following a ruck penalty.  That shot from 55 metres though should've been chalked off by Jantjies but the Springbok fly-half missed with his first two kicks soon after.

It took until the 20th minute for the game's first try and it went the way of South Africa and Jantjies was the provider, his chip kick on halfway finding Jesse Kriel whose offload to Kolisi saw the flanker go in untouched.  Jantjies would make no mistake from in front for 7-3.

Jantjies made it 10-3 seven minutes later with a penalty but the visitors' joy was shortlived when the restart was allowed to bounce and Pumas wing Moyano duly gathered for a gift wrapped try.  Juan Martin Hernandez made no mistake off the tee and the game was locked up at 10 points each.

South Africa came close to striking straight back through Andries Coetzee but Kolisi's pass was adjudged to be forward so it was disallowed.

They wouldn't be denied though on 39 minutes when Jantjies slipped a tackle and reached out for a try to make it 17-10 at the turnaround.

After the interval Hernandez cut the lead to four points with a penalty on 45 minutes before good interplay between Coetzee and Courtnall Skosan after a turnover set up a second try for Kolisi.  Once again the final pass to Kolisi came from Kriel as the Springboks led 24-13.

Then came Lavanini's second yellow card for a deliberate knock down and that was compounded by a penalty try being given, making it 31-13.

On the hour mark the Pumas hit back through Joaquin Tuculet's converted try and with a Boffelli penalty they were only trailing by eight.

With eight minutes remaining though a Jantjies penalty made it 34-23 before replacement Du Preez made sure of an impressive away victory.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Moyano, Moroni
Cons:  Hernandez, Sanchez
Pens:  Boffelli 2, Hernandez
Red Card:  Lavanini

For South Africa:
Tries:  Kolisi 2, Jantjies, Penalty try, Du Preez
Cons:  Jantjies 4
Pens:  Jantjies 2
Yellow Card:  Coetzee

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Tomas Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Lucas Noguera
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Nicolas Sanchez, 23 Matias Moroni

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Curwin Bosch, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Nic Berry (Australia)
Television match official:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

All Blacks edge past Wallabies in thriller

New Zealand retained the Bledisloe Cup with a last-gasp 35-29 victory over Australia in a Rugby Championship thriller at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Saturday.

The start of the game was delayed by 20 minutes due to the lights having gone out at the stadium prior to kick-off.

The All Blacks extended their unbeaten run to seven games against the Wallabies in which they have averaged over 40 points per game.  The Wallabies have now lost 20 straight games to the All Blacks on New Zealand soil.

Also, it must be said Nigel Owens had an excellent game and worked well in tandem with his assistants Wayne Barnes and Andrew Brace.

It was an incredible start to the game.  Beauden Barrett kicked off with Sam Whitelock doing well to retrieve the ball as the All Blacks immediately went in to attacking mode.  Whitelock recycled the ball and Aaron Smith spread the ball to his right to Damian McKenzie.  However, against the run of play, McKenzie's pass was well read by Israel Folau who intercepted to run coast to coast and dot down as the Wallabies took an early 5-0 lead with just 20 seconds on the clock.

10 minutes later, the Wallabies stunned the Dunedin crowd and all those watching around the world with their second try.  From a Wallaby cross-field kick, Folau and McKenzie contested in the air with the ball coming off McKenzie's hand before going out to touch.  The Wallabies had the throw-in to the attacking lineout ten metres out.  They set up the maul and Michael Hooper slipped Kieran Read's tackle far too easily and went in for a soft try.  Foley, however, missed his second conversion of the night which came back to haunt the Wallabies.  In fact, Foley missed three easy kicks by his standards.

Soon after, the Wallabies had their third try completely defying the bookmakers' pre-match predictions.  After the All Blacks had knocked on, the Wallabies had the put-in to the scrum.  Will Genia just managed to retrieve the ball despite the Wallabies being overpowered on their own scrum.  Genia made a wonderful sniping break and made good ground before passing to Hooper who showed good timing with the pass to find Foley who raced through to cross the whitewash.  Foley missed the conversion but the Wallabies still had a 17-0 lead.

However, soon afterwards, the All Blacks hit back.  They too, had a five-metre attacking scrum having been denied a penalty try just before then.  They were awarded a penalty instead but made the most of it, opting for touch and setting up the driving maul from the lineout.  From the maul, Aaron Smith cleverly popped an intelligent reverse pass to Ioane who reached over.  Barrett converted to cut the deficit to 10 at 17-7.

The All Blacks were completely annihilating the Wallabies scrum but weren't making the most of their dominance with one example being when Smith knocked on at the back of another dominant five-metre scrum when they looked sure of scoring.

But, the knock-on was overruled as it was ascertained that Stephen Moore was unbound at the scrum.  Thus, it was a chance for another dominant All Blacks five-metre scrum but they were denied yet again when just as it looked as if Ben Smith had dotted down, the TMO ruled he was not in control of the ball.

This time, the Wallabies had the put-in but Allan Alaalatoa was guilty of collapsing.  The All Blacks unsurprisingly opted for a scrum penalty.

Eventually, the All Blacks made the most of their dominance at this particular set-piece.  Smith took the onus on himself breaking off the back of the scrum and slipping Hooper's tackle as he crossed the whitewash.  The All Blacks finally had their try and deservedly so on the stroke of half-time.  Barrett converted as the whistle was blown with the Wallabies taking a slender 17-14 lead in to the break.

The second half was a much more cagey affair with the first points coming only in the 63rd minute through a Barrett try.

But just when it looked as if the Wallabies might be dead and buried, Genia produced another moment of individual brilliance when he exploited a beautigul gap behind the ruck and finished clinically.  However, Foley missed his fourth easy kick of the night in a shocking goal-kicking display that undid a lot of the Wallabies' good work.

Soon after, the All Blacks hit back.  Their third try was a great team effort as the home side showed a lot of continuity and patience.  Switching the ball from right to left and back to right with almost the whole team involved, it was McKenzie who punctured the Wallabies defence when he slipped Tevita Kuridrani's tackle before his basketball pass over the head of the last defender set Ben Smith on a clear run to the line.  Barrett added the extras as the All Blacks took a 28-22 lead after 72 minutes.

In another twist to an enthralling topsy-turvy encounter, Kurtley Beale burst over after a series of powerful carries from the Wallabies forwards and a good, flat pass from Genia.  This time Foley converted as the Wallabies took a slender one-point lead to set up a tense finale.

But never count the All Blacks out.  From the kick-off, Read retrieved the ball.  TJ Perenara recycled to Read who broke the line with a powerful surge and passed back to Perenara who shovelled the ball to Barrett who ran through to dot down under the posts.

In a Test match that had it all, the All Blacks claimed a last-gasp 35-29 win.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Ioane, Smith, B Barrett 2, Smith
Cons:  Barrett 5

For Australia:
Tries:  Beale, Genia, Foley, Hooper, Folau
Cons:  Foley 2

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Kane Hames, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Thomas Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Rory Arnold, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Izack Rodda, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Reece Hodge, 23 Curtis Rona

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Television match official:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Springboks ease past Pumas

South Africa began their Rugby Championship campaign on a positive note with a 37-15 victory over Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

Tries from Courtnall Skosan, Raymond Rhule, Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph Du Toit proved too much for Argentina who scored through Martin Landajo and Emiliano Boffelli.

The Springboks had a healthy 23-8 lead with half an hour to go but the Pumas gave them a bit of a scare bringing it back to an eight-point game.  However, the Springbok substitutes made a big impact in the last quarter of the game and ensured a comfortable victory.

It means the Springboks exact revenge for the 26-24 defeat in Salta in the second round of Rugby Championship 2016, the last time the sides met.

Meanwhile, the Boks continue their fine record at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium where they remain undefeated in five matches at the state-of-the-art venue.

After New Zealand's 54-34 bonus-point win over Australia, the Boks move in to second position on the Rugby Championship standings behind the All Blacks.

It was not the free-flowing game we saw earlier in the day between the Australasian rivals as frequent handling errors and indiscretions made it a stop-start affair.

It is the Boks' fourth win in a row after the three nil series whitewash of France.  The last time the side achieved this was a four-game winning streak during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Crucial to the Boks' success was their dominance of the scrum and breakdown.

An Elton Jantjies penalty gave the Boks a 10 minute three nil lead after Tomas Lezana was guilty of going off his feet at the breakdown when trying to steal the ball.

And after 20 minutes, Jantjies added three more points from the tee as this time the Pumas were penalised for offside.

Nicolas Sanchez missed an opportunity to half the deficit when Malcolm Marx was penalised for a high tackle.  Surprising given that the Pumas fly-half boasted a 87 percent kicking rate with 20 from 23 in Rugby Championship 2016.

But on the half-hour mark, the away side hit back with an excellent counter attack.  Tuculet picked up a Jantjies grubber kick and weaved his past a couple of defenders before offloading to Emiliano Boffelli who showed great vision to put it on the boot for Landajo to chase.  The pacy scrum-half kicked it further ahead doing well to outstrip Raymond Rhule to collect and dive over in the corner.

The Boks remained in the lead, however, as Sanchez missed the conversion.

Soon after, the Boks scored their first try.  From another solid Bok scrum out on the left, Cronje shifted play to the right to Serfontein who passed to Jantjies whose inside ball found Skosan who wasn't held in the tackle.  The speedy winger showed good game awareness to get up unheld and race through to dot down for his first Test try.

The first points of the first half came from the Pumas via a Sanchez penalty in the 45th minute.  However, Jantjies responded with a penalty of his own after strong work from Jaco Kriel at the breakdown to win the penalty.

As if to emulate Kriel's good work at the breakdown, it was his loose forward partner Kolisi this time who was the catalyst for the turnover after a strong Springbok counter-ruck.  Turning down a kick at goal, Springbok captain Eben Etzebeth opted to go for the corner.  From the five-metre lineout, the Boks' driving maul was halted.  Cronje recycled the ball to Jantjies who passed to Rhule who ran a fine line and was not going to be stopped on his way over the whitewash.  Just reward for some sustained Springbok pressure.  Jantjies added the extras as the home side led 23-8 after 55 minutes.

Soon after, it was the Pumas who had a five-metre attacking lineout on the right touchline.  After a series of powerful carries from their forwards, the ball was switched out to the left where the Pumas showed good hands and created the overlap where Boffelli was waiting to dive over in the left-hand corner.  It was well converted by Sanchez out on the left touchline as the Pumas cut the deficit to eight at 23-15.

With 15 minutes to go, the Springboks won another scrum penalty and opted for touch five metres out on the right-hand side.  Taking the ball out left and then back to the right, the home side dragged the Pumas' defence one way before coming back to the other side quickly with slick handling ensuring Kolisi had a clear run to the line, making the score 30-15.

Great work from substitute Du Toit gave the Springboks their fourth try as he reached over after a series of powerful carries from his teammates in the build-up.

And there were no further scores as the Springboks ran out 37-15 victors much to the delight of the Port Elizabeth faithful.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Skosan, Rhule, Kolisi, Du Toit
Cons:  Jantjies 4
Pens:  Jantjies 3

For Argentina:
Tries:  Boffelli, Landajo
Con:  Sanchez
Pen:  Hernandez

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Curwin Bosch, 23 Damian de Allende

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Tomas Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Juan Martin Hernandez, 23 Matias Moroni

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gaüzère (France), Nic Berry (Australia)
Television match official:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

All Blacks' first half blitz seals win over Wallabies

New Zealand got their Rugby Championship campaign off to a superb start when they claimed a 54-34 victory over Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

In a fast-paced encounter, in which both sides stayed true to their attacking roots, the All Blacks' superior game management — especially in the first half — laid the groundwork to this win and they eventually outscored the Wallabies seven to four.

The world champions held a 40-6 lead at the interval courtesy of two tries apiece from Rieko Ioane and Ryan Crotty as well as further five-pointers from Liam Squire and Sonny Bill Williams.

Those 40 points were the most conceded by the Wallabies in the first half of a Test against the All Blacks ever.

There was plenty of hype ahead of this match after New Zealand teams won all 26 matches against their Australian counterparts in Super Rugby this year and the All Blacks' performance went a long way to justify that hype.  They blew their hosts away with a clinical display during that first half although the Wallabies fought back bravely during the second half.

Australia were fastest out of the blocks and were soon camped inside New Zealand's 22 after taking the ball through 14 phases.  The All Blacks strayed offside on defence and Bernard Foley opened the scoring in the fourth minute by slotting the resulting three-pointer from the kicking tee.

It did not take long for the world champions to strike back though and in the 10th minute, Squire rounded off after Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick and Kieran Read impressed with slick handling in the build-up.

Foley narrowed the gap to a point, when he added his second penalty in the 17th minute, but that was the last time the home side would score points during the half.

In the 18th minute, Ioane rounded Israel Folau with a superb turn of speed before crossing in the left-hand corner.  The All Black flyer had his second try three minutes later after gathering a pass from Crotty, who intercepted a wayward Wallaby pass on the halfway line.

The rest of the half was a procession and tries from Williams and Crotty meant Steve Hansen's charges had their tails up as the teams changed sides at the interval.

New Zealand continued to dominate during the early stages of the second half and shortly after the restart Barrett intercepted a Folau pass before getting a pass out to Ioane just inside the Wallabies' half.

He still had work to do and after rounding one defender, he offloaded to Damian McKenzie who cantered in for his first Test try.

And five minutes later, Liam Squire set off on a barnstorming run which took him into the Wallabies' 22.  He was eventually brought to ground, but after taking the ball through another couple of phases, Ben Smith dotted down next to the posts — Barrett's seventh conversion giving the All Blacks a 54-6 lead.

To their credit, the Wallabies did not surrender and in the 51st minute Curtis Rona got over for a try on his Test debut after running onto a well-timed pass from Foley close to New Zealand's try-line.

With the game in the bag, the All Blacks rung the changes and it will be a concern for their coach, Steve Hansen, that the intensity levels dropped after he brought on his replacements.

That try from Rona was followed by another five-pointer from Tevita Kuridrani, who barged over the whitewash after gathering a flat pass from Folau.

And on the hour-mark, TJ Perenara threw a loose pass 10 metres inside his half which Kurtley Beale gathered before outpacing the cover defence on his way over the try-line.

Folau eventually got his name onto the scoresheet in the 68th minute when he crossed for his side's fourth try after finding himself in space just outside the All Blacks' 22.

And although the Wallabies finished stronger, they know their first half performance left a lot to be desired and will be determined to improve on that effort (especially defensively) when these sides meet in Dunedin next weekend.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Rona, Kuridrani, Beale, Folau
Cons:  Foley 4
Pens:  Foley 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Squire, Ioane 2, Crotty 2, Williams, McKenzie, Smith
Cons:  Barrett 7

The teams:

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Curtis Rona, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Reece Hodge, 23 Tevita Kuridrani

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Andy Brace (Ireland)
Television match official:  Rowan Kitt (England)