Cape Town – The Springboks, in bright red, secured a 41-23 bonus-point win over Argentina in Salta on Saturday night to make it two from two in the Rugby Championship this year. 

AS IT HAPPENED: PUMAS 23-41 SPRINGBOKS

Siya Kolisi scored two tries for the Boks, who have won their first away game under coach Allister Coetzee.

The Boks were poor in the first quarter. 

Argentina took the lead through an Emiliano Boffelli penalty while Elton Jantjies missed two early shots at goal of his own from relatively routine positions. 

But it wasn’t Jantjies’ two misses that made it a poor start for the Boks. 

They battled to hold onto their own ball, gifting the Pumas possession through unforced errors, and they couldn’t capitalise on a one-man advantage when Tomas Lavanini was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle on Coenie Oosthuizen. 

With the Bok struggling, Jantjies then sparked a moment of magic.

He recieved the ball off the top of a lineout and went for the little chip over a rushing defensive line. Jesse Kriel was on hand to gather and he showed good hands to release Siya Kolisi, who went in under the posts for his third Test try. 

Jantjies knocked over the extras, and the Boks would have felt far better with a 7-3 lead. 

The Bok No 10 then slotted a penalty to make it 10-3, but the visitors were woeful from the restart, allowing the ball to bounce before Ramiro Moyano cantered through to the line uncontested to score the softest of tries. 

At 10-10, errors from both sides plagued the rest of the half. 

The Pumas were dealt a massive blow just before the break when they lost Juan Manuel Leguizamon to their second yellow card, and from the resulting penalty the Boks set up an attacking lineout. 

It had looked like the sides would go into half time all square, but from the lineout the ball moved to the backline where Jantjies spotted a gap and crashed his way towards the line, reaching over to get the Boks their second try and secure a 17-10 lead. 

Argentina hit back with an early penalty just after the restart to close the gap, and they were camped on the Bok line soon after that, threatening to take the lead. 

The Springboks somehow won the turnover and launched a counter-attack from their own line that result in their third try – and Kolisi’s second – of the night.

Things then got from bad to worse for Argentina when, just before the hour mark, Lavanini was shown a second yellow card, and a red, for a deliberate knock-down that prevented Kolisi going in for his third try. 

The Boks were awarded a penalty try as a result, and at 31-13 ahead, it looked to be plain sailing from there. 

That was not the case. 

Matias Orlando scored a try for the hosts and when Andries Coetzee went diving into him after he had already scored, the Springbok fullback was shown a yellow card. 

Boffelli knocked over a penalty from the restart, and all-of-a-sudden the scoreboard read 31-23. 

Jantjies then kicked a penalty to stretch the lead back to 11 points, but Jean-Luc du Preez’s first Test try in the dying stages put the game to bed. 

Scorers:

Argentina 23 (10)

Tries: Ramiro Moyano, Matias Orlando

Conversions: Juan Martin Hernandez, Nicolas Sanchez

Penalties: Emiliano Boffelli (2), Hernandez

South Africa 41 (17)

Tries: Siya Kolisi (2), Elton Jantjies, Penalty try, Jean-Luc du Preez

Conversions: Elton Jantjies (3)

Penalties: Jantjies (2)

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