South Africa beats Argentina 67-30 in Rugby Championship to move into first place

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa scored nine tries and powered to a 67-30 bonus-point win over Argentina on Saturday to move into first place in the Rugby Championship heading into next week’s final round.

Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu grabbed a hat trick of tries as the Springboks dismantled the Pumas in the second half, having only been leading 25-23 at halftime in Durban.

Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Morne van den Berg, Pieter-Steph du Toit — with two tries — and Manie Libbok also went over for the Boks, with Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicking eight conversions and two penalties for a 37-point personal haul — the most by a South Africa player in a test.

“No one can disagree that Sacha was man of the match and did incredible things on the field,” Boks coach Rassie Erasmus said.

Argentina had a penalty try and a try from Santiago Chocobares in the first half, before Tomas Albornoz went over for another in the 53rd that was converted by Santiago Carreras. The Pumas didn’t score another point.

Carreras finished with 15 points from two conversions and three penalties.

South Africa climbed atop the standings, one point above New Zealand and four clear of third-place Australia. Argentina is in last place on nine points, six adrift of the Boks.

South Africa and Argentina meet again next Saturday at Twickenham in the final round.

Erasmus might have to deal with some injuries, with Cheslin Kolbe (shoulder), Damian Willemse (hamstring) and Ethan Hooker (ankle) all coming off in the second half to leave the team with an entirely reshuffled backline.

“We’ve won nothing yet in this Rugby Championship — we’ve had one win and one loss against New Zealand and Australia, and we know how tough Argentina are,” Erasmus said. “We’re flying tomorrow and we’re playing at Twickenham next week and we have to win that game or it’s just another missed Rugby Championship.”

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby