Fringe Boks beat Argentina: Four key phases from the match

It was a Jekyll and Hyde performance from the fringe Springboks as they bounced back from a first half deficit blighted by poor finishing, to power to an impressive 24-13 win over Argentina in their World Cup warm-up match in Buenos Aires on Saturday night.

A number of players will be happy with their nights work, putting their hands up in their final opportunity to impress the Bok selectors ahead of the World Cup team announcement on Tuesday, with right wing Canan Moodie and flank Deon Fourie putting in superb shifts.

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Here are the four key phases from the match:

Poor conversion rate in first half

There was a lot of good running play from the Boks in the first half, but despite this they ended up behind on the scoreline after they were unable convert a host of chances. It is a major problem that has plagued the South African’s since last year and is something they desperately need to fix heading into the World Cup.

With five 22m entries in the first 40 the Boks were unable to score a single try, only managing to finish the half with three points to their name after flyhalf Manie Libbok could only slot one of his three shots at goal.

Dominating the stats but not the scorecard

The Boks absolutely dominated most of the key stats at the halftime break but somehow found themselves down on the most important one, trailing 10-3 on the scorecard.

After the first 40 the Boks enjoyed 59% possession and 58% territory, had 40 gain line successes to Argentina’s 11, three gain line successes to one, had beaten 15 defenders to six from the hosts, while Los Pumas had to make 94 tackles to the visitors 43. Despite this clear dominance in almost all facets, they went into the break seven points down.

Blitz start to the second half

It was a powerful start to the second half that stunned Argentina and saw the Boks take the lead in the 45^th minute, with them not relinquishing it over the rest of the match. Despite playing the opening five minutes with 14-men, after flank Franco Mostert received a yellow card at the end of the first half, the visitors still ran in two quick tries while being a man down.

First fast hands released left wing Makazole Mapimpi to run into the left hand corner, before a super cross kick from Manie Libbok landed perfectly in right wing Canan Moodie’s hands to score in the right hand corner.

Manie finds his range

Bok flyhalf Manie Libbok was having a bit of a nightmare from the kicking tee during the first 55 minutes of the match which kept Argentina well in the game up until that point. With just a slim lead of 15-13 at that time, Libbok had left 11 points out there.

He had missed three penalties and a conversion attempt, to have a dismal conversion rate of two from six shots at goal. Despite his struggles faith was kept with Libbok and he finally found his range, slotting three big penalties over the rest of the half to push his side into an unassailable lead.