{"id":179136,"date":"2025-10-04T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/179136\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:36:08","slug":"south-africa-champions-after-malcolm-marx-double-leaves-argentina-behind-rugby-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/179136\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa champions after Malcolm Marx double leaves Argentina behind | Rugby Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa secured back-to-back Rugby Championship<\/a> titles for the first time with a slick of luck, a show of character and, most significantly of all, a trademark flex of their unrivalled muscle. A fifth consecutive win at Twickenham in front of a sea of green was far from flawless but with the hooker, Malcolm Marx, in destructive form, the Springboks are worthy winners of a thrilling competition. Not every week, not too often here, but of the four teams, South Africa have been able to find a level higher than the rest.<\/p>\n

They do not come to Twickenham in the autumn, but on England\u2019s turf, here was a reminder of what the two-times defending world champions are capable of. It will not come as news that South Africa possess remarkable power at scrum time, but how the Springboks blew Argentina\u2019s apart was devastating. It is the level to which the rest aspire.<\/p>\n

This was a \u201chome\u201d fixture for Argentina, but there were only pockets of Pumas supporters dotted around the 70,000-strong crowd. It was South Africa\u2019s third match against opponents other than England in three years here and such is the appetite of London\u2019s sizeable expat community to see their beloved Boks, they came in their droves.<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s bonus point win over the Wallabies in Perth earlier in the day ensured South Africa required victory to successfully defend their title for the first time. They got off to terrible start when Canan Moodie was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Juan Cruz Mall\u00eda in the first minute. Argentina had started by far the brighter and capitalised on their numerical advantage a couple of minutes later, Bautista Delguy wriggling over on the right after an impressively patient buildup by the Pumas.<\/p>\n

Malcolm Marx scores his second try, helped by Cobus Reinach, giving South Africa too big a lead for Argentina to overcome. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

South Africa were rattled. Damien Willemse, enjoying a fine tournament, knocked the ball on while Argentina were robust in defence and finding joy in getting around the Springboks\u2019 line speed. South Africa will always bring scrum power, however, and it was through the set piece they gained a foothold. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu put the Boks on the board and did his utmost to kick his side into gear. He has a cannon of a right foot and, though not always accurate, he gave South Africa some much-needed territory. A stunning linebreak demonstrated why there is such hype around him, only for his pass to Cheslin Kolbe on the right to float into touch.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideArgentina 27-29 South Africa teams and scorersShow<\/p>\n

Argentina S Carreras; Delguy, Piccardo, Chocobares, Mallia; Prisciantelli (Isgro 65), Benitez Cruz (Moyano 71); Vivas, Montoya (capt; Ruiz 73), Coria Marchetti (Rapetti 55), Petti (Molina 54), Rubiolo, Matera (Gonzalez 48), Kremer, Grondona (Oviedo 48).\u00a0Tries Delguy 2, Isgro.\u00a0Cons Carreras 2.\u00a0Pens Carreras 2. Sin-bin Vivas 43.
South Africa Willemse; Kolbe, Moodie (Kriel 50), De Allende; Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Libbok 68), Reinach (Williams 68); Nche (Wessels 50), Marx (Mbonambi 61), T Du Toit (Louw 50), Etzebeth (Snyman 48), Nortje, Kolisi (capt; Smith 60), PS Du Toit, Wiese. Tries Reinach 2, Marx 2. Cons Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3. Pens Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Sin-bin Moodie 2.
Referee Andrea Piardi (It). Attendance 70,360.<\/p>\n

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Santiago Carreras added two penalties and while South Africa were back to within three by the break, Argentina had every right to feel aggrieved. Moodie really ought to have been shown another yellow card, and therefore a red, for a deliberate knock-on. The referee, Andrea Piardi, disagreed but to rub salt into Argentina\u2019s wounds, the Italian official missed another knock-on by South Africa\u2019s outside centre and penalised the Pumas for a breakdown infringement instead. From there, a series of scrum penalties yielded the Springboks\u2019 first try, finished by the scrum-half, Cobus Reinach.<\/p>\n

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Siya Kolisi the Springbok captain takes a selfie as he celebrates victory with fans at Twickenham. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

When Argentina\u2019s loosehead prop, Mayco Vivas, was sent to the sin-bin three minutes into the second half you feared for the Pumas and the irrepressible Marx was over from a driving lineout from the ensuing penalty. Another scrum penalty \u2013 immediately after South Africa changed their props \u2013 yielded a second try for Reinach before Marx followed suit with another shove from close range.<\/p>\n

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was enjoying himself by now, flinging offloads out the back door, but a slack long pass from Kolbe allowed Delguy to snaffle the intercept and give Argentina a degree of hope. Carreras struck the upright with a 77-minute penalty that would have set up a grandstand finish before Rodrigo Isgr\u00f3\u2019s late try with the game already up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa secured back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time with a slick of luck, a show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-179136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}