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Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 37 points in a stunning individual fly-half display as South Africa moved to the top of the Rugby Championship table with a 67-30 bonus-point victory over Argentina at Kings Park.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a hat-trick of tries as he beat Percy Montgomery’s Springboks record for most points in a single Test, to go with scores for the hooker Malcolm Marx, the wing Cheslin Kolbe, the scrum-half Morné van den Berg, the flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit (two) and the replacement back Manie Libbok.
Argentina were tenacious in the opening period but trailed the defending champions 25-23 at half-time as they scored tries through the centre Santiago Chocobares, the replacement back Tomás Albornoz and a penalty try.
With one round remaining, South Africa have 15 points at the top of the Rugby Championship table, followed by New Zealand (14), Australia (11) and Argentina (9), who are now out of the running and host the Springboks in London next Saturday.
“This was a vibe, I am very happy,” Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23, said. “We just wanted to play good rugby, put the work we have done in training into the game.
“Playing transition scenarios and getting the right balance between kicking and running – I think we did that.“
It puts South Africa in pole position to retain their title but Siya Kolisi warned they faced a final hurdle at Twickenham next weekend. The captain said: “We expected the tough start, we knew what Argentina was going to bring. They took their opportunities in the first half.
“The message after half-time was to cut out the stupid errors and penalties we were giving away and to play as composed as we can. Next week we will go as hard as we can to win it. The job is not done yet.”
Argentina were the better side in the opening 40 minutes and only the brilliance of Feinberg-Mngomezulu kept the Springboks in touch.
The visitors got one of the more bizarre tries scored in the history of test rugby in the first half. The Springboks wing Kolbe dotted the ball down behind his own try line for a goalline drop-out. He casually drop-kicked the ball towards Feinberg-Mngomezulu who was to take the restart, and Chocobares picked up the loose ball as the home players stood waiting and crossed the line. Confusion reigned until the television match official confirmed that Kolbe’s inadvertent actions had made the ball live.
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But after the break the home side took control with some excellent handling, pinpoint aerial balls and an ever more adventurous style of play as their lead built up on the scoreboard.
“We weren’t good enough, I am very disappointed,” Argentina’s captain, Julián Montoya, said. “South Africa are the best team in the world and they capitalised on every mistake we made.
“We lost the contact [situations]. We could not cope with how South Africa put pressure on us. It was a tough day but we need to regroup and stay together.”
Argentina will have a concern over the scrum-half Gonzalo García, who left the field on a stretcher near the end with what appeared to be a neck injury after teammate Guido Petti fell on to him in an attempted tackle.
