Following the Springboks’ emphatic 48-7 victory over Argentina to win the Rugby Championship, here are our five takeaways from the game.

The top line

South Africa are the 2024 Rugby Championship winners as they delivered a wonderfully ambitious attacking display in Mbombela as they ran in seven magnificent tries to emphatically avenge last weekend’s defeat in Santiago.

Tries came from Aphelele Fassi (2), Player of the Match Pieter-Steph du Toit (2), Cheslin Kolbe, Malcolm Marx and Jesse Kriel as a wave of green runners and supporting players hit Los Pumas time and time again – fast, direct, ambitious and at times, downright impudent.

Los Pumas didn’t help themselves as for the first time in this season’s Rugby Championship, their discipline fell apart under pressure. Scrum, breakdown, aerial battle, or defensive structure – it didn’t matter as the sheer will of the Springboks put them into a stranglehold that was so effective the only ways out were illegal. Two yellow cards and a red for Pablo Matera gave the Boks 30 minutes of numerical mismatch, six of those against only 13 men, and in the mood the hosts were in, they weren’t going to spurn the gifts that Argentina gave them continuously throughout the game.

It was a wonderful performance, one befitting both world and southern hemisphere champions and one that will stay in the memories of the fantastic Mbombela crowd for a long time.

Party time

This was Eben Etzebeth’s party, the one where he became the most capped Springbok and arguably the greatest amongst greats. For his teammates who received the invitation to his social, it must have clearly said ‘please play appropriately’ on the invites, as the men who he has shared so much success with, Siya Kolisi, Du Toit and Ox Nche arrived at Mbombela in impish and playful party mood.

Etzebeth himself was monstrous in his work-rate, defence and even his support, but for every hit and carry he made, the men in his back-row, Kolisi and Du Toit, made a couple more to celebrate his record.

We expect Du Toit to be brilliant on the defensive and set piece side of the ball, but he brought his best dancing shoes to really up his impact in attack, sweeping around the pitch as an extra man down the channels in support and even hurdling the ruck to dot down an opportunistic try, somewhat reminiscent of the agility of a s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed Mbombela driver avoiding one of the many crater-deep potholes along the adjacent N4 freeway. Just to rub salt into the Argentinian beef, his support work in the wide channel right at the end of the game saw him notch another five-pointer, his eleventh in Test rugby.

With Kolisi, now South Africa’s most capped flank, running about in the wide channels in support with energy that belied his 33 years, the Etzebeth party swung all night in Mbombela, showering the big lock with the comfort food he loves – scrums, lineouts, rucks and tackles, the Bomb Squad providing the party fireworks and with the Boks delivering a performance worthy of the great man’s career.

It was fitting the Springboks secured a wonderful 2024 Rugby Championship in this game, the most appropriate celebratory present imaginable.

Young guns fire

Whilst the adults in the pack were partying hard, it was appropriate that in the best family traditions, the youngsters in the backs delivered the entertainment for the Mbombela guests.

Starting at nine, Jaden Hendrikse put in one of his most complete performances in the green jersey, adding magnificent variety to proceedings at the base of the scrum. His kicking was absolutely pinpoint, his passing was lightning quick as he got to rucks with real intent to retain momentum, and to cap it all, his sniping around the sides tore Los Pumas to shreds on several occasions.

Manie Libbok, a man who has put up with a lot of social media ‘fun’ since his fluffed kicks last weekend, recovered well with a characterful display at 10, one that saw him add great width on the Bok game, either with pass or more often with boot, as he demonstrated real personal resilience to bounce back from his issues in Santiago.

But the best of the lot came at the back where Fassi demonstrated once more his rise in terms of form and s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁. The full-back scored two tries, almost made another for Kurt-Lee Arendse and dominated the airways in a magnificent display of the 15’s craft. He’s fast answering one of the biggest questions in Springbok rugby as he looks to replace the ageless Willie le Roux as he reaches the final chapter of his brilliant career.

Scrum smarts

There was little doubt, coming into this game, that South Africa boasted scrum superiority over Los Pumas and, rather predictably, it was the set-piece that ignited the Springbok intensity early in the first half.

In the first five scrums of the afternoon, Argentina haemorrhaged five consecutive penalties, four on their tighthead side and one for hooker Julian Montoya popping up under pressure as Nche, Frans Malherbe and Bongi Mbonambi strutted their powerful stuff.

You might argue that Ben O’Keeffe was lenient on the retreating Los Pumas eight, as on two occasions there could have been no complaint had the Kiwi referee run under the posts for a penalty try. Indeed, he warned the Argentinian pack on several occasions regarding the legality and, on balance, probably erred on forgiveness and sympathy for Los Pumas, such was the wave of green power from the Springbok eight.

It was the snap on the engage followed by a quick feed to maximize the instant power advantage that 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed Argentina; Malherbe hammered into every engagement getting momentum into his hit that the visitors never recovered from that initial scrum moment.

Ironically, Thomas Gallo, a man often thought of as a better player in the loose than he is in the tight, was the one man that held on legally for dear life as he demonstrated once again his improvement, but by then the damage was done. It took Los Pumas real concentration on the fundamentals of getting the ball in and out as quickly as they could to overcome the Bok power but it was always a case of hanging on rather than achieving any form of stability.

Puma problems

Argentina seem to be determined to prove the cliché that for every heroic performance they produce that they follow it up with an absolute stinker. Sure, they were short of a lot of key players through injury, including their brick wall Marcos Kremer, and they lost their key man in midfield, Santiago Chocobares, early in the game to a horrendous collision with Fassi which hyperextended the centre’s knee. Their day couldn’t be summed up better than the red card of the iconic Matera – Vincent Koch looked to be in at the side of the ruck and perhaps with a tucked arm but taking matters into your own hands in a Test match is foolhardy and the enraged Matera went in recklessly to clatter Koch’s head with a tucked arm in a really dangerous clear out.

But outside of their discipline, the inability to exit under pressure off nine haunts them. They lose 25 metres every exit by insisting on passing back to their 10 or 15, rather than take the half-back clearance from the base. When you play sides with a lineout as good as South Africa’s then you’re always asking for trouble when you re-invite another phase of pressure for 30 metres out.

But there’s a lot for Los Pumas to take out of this tournament; the emergence of the brilliant Tomas Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz and the promising Joaquin Oviedo at 10 and eight respectively- and it was fitting that the best shots Argentina fired was from these two wonderful players, with support from Juan Martin Gonzalez and Santiago Grondona.

It wasn’t Los Pumas’ day, but they will take some wonderful memories and a great deal of confidence from their campaign this season, one that saw them beat every side in the tournament and finish in equilibrium with three wins and three losses from their six games.