By Peter Bills

Argentina (20) 23
Tries: Durand, Leonelli, M Contepomi; Conversion: F Conte-pomi; Penalties: F Contepomi (2)

South Africa(16) 34

Tries: Montgomery, Fourie, Smith; Conversions: Montgomery (2); Penalties: Montgomery (3), Pretorius; Drop Goal: Conradie

South Africa were plainly rusty after a 10-week gap since their last Test

Buenos Aires - Whichever way you tried to dress up this performance – and the Springbok management tried hard to do so – the fact remained that it was a scrappy, unconvincing Test match display.

Few Springboks enhanced their reputation on the day, flanker Juan Smith excepted, and the Boks were clearly glad to have scraped a win from a performance of muddling mediocrity.

All kinds of reasons were advanced afterwards for the poverty of the South African display. They all had a modicum of truth. The pitch, said coach Jake White, was six or seven metres narrower than the South Africans were used to. The loss of flyhalf André Pretorius after 22 minutes was a major disruption, plus it was always going to be what White termed “that sort of a game”.

Furthermore, South Africa were plainly rusty after a 10-week gap since their last Test. But even that did not fully explain the muddle and mess that was the Springbok performance for long periods of this game. Significantly, New Zealand had not played for 10 weeks either yet the professionalism with which they went through the gears to demolish Wales in Cardiff without ever playing anywhere near their peak, was revealing. As the 2007 World Cup nears, the Springboks must understand that anything less than that peak of performance will be categorised as something akin to inferiority.

And now the Boks will go forward without Pretorius, who was on Sunday ruled out of the tour after spraining his ankle. He will come home this week and no replacements will be called for. Brent Russell and Meyer Bosman will now be gunning for the No 10 jersey.

'We were really poor in the first half'

At the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, too many South Africans made too many mistakes. Ball was turned over, thrown inaccurately at line-outs by the captain and squandered in a variety of means.

Argentina had significant opportunities for advancement at 13-6 and then 20-16 but were never quite good enough to capitalise. Composure and poise was noticeably lacking.

The Boks, bolstered in both attack and defence by Smith on the flank (he looked the only true world class forward on display), did just enough to put some daylight between themselves and their opponents by the end. Bakkies Botha was a powerhouse of commitment and ball supply in the first half, winning five line-outs alone before half time. The scrummaging against a traditionally physical Pumas pack was generally most effective, given considerable ballast by the efforts of CJ Van der Linde at tighthead prop and the admirable Os du Randt on the other side. Botha's scrummaging commitments and general work around the field should not be minimised, either.

But not until Schalk Burger replaced Solly Tyibilika at half time did the Boks have anyone to assist Smith in stating a significant presence around the fringes. Burger sacrifices his body each time he plays and he did the same here, giving his fellow forwards a target going forward in the second half.

Behind the scrum, Jaque Fourie matched that physicality and commitment but few others attained such a peak. With Pretorius forced to retire after 22 minutes, there was insufficient guidance and direction from the Springbok half-backs.

Good and bad epitomised the contributions of so many South Africans on the day. Glaring, schoolboy errors proliferated for much of the first half, in terms of ball kicked out on the full from outside the 22, simple knock-ons disrupting any rhythm and continuity and handling mistakes bedevilling the best of intentions.

As skipper John Smit conceded, “We were really poor in the first half. But we did improve and scrummed and drove well overall.” Jake White added: “I thought we played badly in the first half. We didn't stick to the way we defended earlier in the year and slipped a few tackles. But the first game of an end-of-year tour is always difficult.”

It is, but undeniably the great sides impose and assert themselves. They do not sit back and allow events to dictate; theirs is a pro-active effort to turn the tide their way. We saw too little of that from South Africa.

Argentina scored two tries in the opening 26 minutes and the Springboks were fortunate that Pumas flyhalf Felipe Contepomi was in such inconsistent form. He missed both conversions and then threw away the chance of another try by hurling the ball away after he had surged to within two yards of the South African line. But he did make a first half injury time try for his brother Manuel to give Argentina a 20-16 half time lead.

But the South Africans, for whom Percy Montgomery had contributed 13 first half points with a try, a conversion and two penalty goals, hit back hard at the start of the second half. The powerful Fourie swept in for a try 50 seconds after the re-start, Montgomery converted and then added another penalty. Soon after, Conradie dropped a goal before Smith's late try sealed it. It was just enough to subdue a largely disappointing Pumas who had promised much but failed to deliver. But it might not be sufficient to tame the French in Paris in three weeks.

Argentina:
J-M Hernandez; L Borges, F Martin Aramburu, M Contepomi, F Leonelli; F Contepomi, A Pichot (capt); G Longo, J-M Leguizamon, M Durand; I Fernandez Lobbe, P Bouza; O Hasan, M Ledesma, R Roncero.
Replacements: M Carizza (63) for Bouza, M Schusterman (69) for Leguizamon, M Scelzo (75) for Hasan

South Africa:
P Montgomery; C Jantjes, J Fourie, J de Villiers, B Habana; A Pretorius, B Conradie; J Cronjé, J Smith, S Tyibilika; V Matfield, B Botha; CJ van der Linde, J Smit (capt), O du Randt. Replacements: B Russell (22) for Pretorius, S Burger (40) for Tyibilika, A van den Berg (61) for Botha, M Claassens (69) for Conradie, H Shimange (79) for Smit, E Andrews (80) for Du Randt

• This article was originally published on page 5 of The Star on November 07, 2005