Record-breaking Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu leads Springboks to crazy Argentina win

Fly half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a record-breaking 37 points in a stunning individual display as defending champions South Africa moved to the top of the Rugby Championship table with a 67-30 bonus-point victory over Argentina in Durban.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a stunning hat-trick of tries as he beat Percy Montgomery’s Springboks record for most points in a single Test to go with scores for hooker Malcolm Marx, wing Cheslin Kolbe, scrum half Morne van den Berg, flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit (two) and replacement back Manie Libbok.

Argentina were tenacious in the opening period and only trailed 25-23 at half-time as they scored through centre Santiago Chocobares and a penalty try, plus the impeccable kicking of Santiago Carreras, but a try from replacement Tomas Albornoz was the only brief respite in a second half where they were obliterated by the dominant Springboks.

With one round remaining, South Africa have 15 points at the top of the Rugby Championship table, followed by New Zealand (14 points), Australia (11) and Argentina (9), who are now out of the running and host the Springboks in London next Saturday, where another bonus-point Boks win would guarantee them back-to-back titles.

“This was a vibe, I am very happy,” said 23-year-old superstar Feinberg-Mngomezulu. “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.”

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It puts South Africa in pole position to retain their title but captain Siya Kolisi warned they faced a final hurdle at Twickenham next weekend.

“We expected the tough start, we knew what Argentina was going to bring. They took their opportunities in the first half,” Kolisi said.

“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 also got one of the more bizarre tries scored in the history of Test rugby in the first half.

Springboks wing Cheslin Kolbe dotted the ball down behind his own tryline for a goal-line drop-out. He casually drop-kicked the ball towards Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who was intended 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 captain Julian Montoya conceded. “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 scrum half Gonzalo Garcia, 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.

Reuters