South Africa beat Argentina to finish third at Rugby World Cup

South Africa (16) 24

Tries: Pietersen, Etzebeth Con: Pollard Pens: Pollard 4

Argentina (0) 13

Try: Orlandi Con: Sanchez Pen: Sanchez Drop-goal: Sanchez

South Africa finished third at the World Cup as they eased past Argentina. 

A JP Pietersen try and Handre Pollard's boot gave South Africa a 16-0 half-time lead before Nicolas Sanchez finally got the Pumas on the scoreboard.

But Eben Etzebeth's try put the Boks out of sight and Juan Pablo Orlandi's late reply was little consolation.
 
The only disappointment for the Boks was that Bryan Habana was unable to claim the all-time World Cup try scoring record on his own.

    

Bryan Habana narrowly failed to become the World Cup's sole all-time top try scorer 

The 32-year-old winger came within inches of scoring in the first half, only to be denied by the fingertips of Argentina full-back Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino as they both chased a kick.

But with the record on his mind - he entered the game tied on 15 World Cup tries with New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu - he had a mixed game, and several spilled passes suggested it was not to be his night before he was taken off to a rapturous farewell from a packed Olympic Stadium with 15 minutes remaining.

 

 

Boks overpower Pumas

 

Bath flanker Francois Louw earned five turnovers against Argentina on Friday night

South Africa fielded a near first-choice XV and the power of their pack ultimately told in east London.

Argentina enjoyed the majority of the possession but they ran into an unbreachable wall, with giant lock Etzebeth adding a game-high 20 tackles to his try and fellow second row Victor Matfield - captaining the Boks in his last-ever Test - weighing in with 16 in his hour on the pitch.


With open-side flanker Francois Louw winning a remarkable five turnovers on his own, to add to a dozen tackles, Argentina were never able to reproduce their attacking fizz from earlier in the tournament.

A game too far for Argentina?

 

Argentina had most of the possession, but gave away 15 penalties to South Africa's 10

The Pumas, seeking to match their third-place finish in 2007, made nine changes as a result of injury and exhaustion, and they were unable to match the sheer physicality of the Boks.

They enjoyed the better of both territory and possession but with their pack out-gunned up front, dangerous runners such as Santiago Cordero and Horacio Agulla were never given a sniff of the Springbok tryline.

They made an impressive 564 metres as a team with ball in hand but were forced to attack from deep and every time they approached the South Africa 22 a thumping tackle or classy steal saw them repelled.

Match stats
South Africa		Argentina
35%	Possession	65%
37%	Territory	63%
4 (0)	Scrums won (lost)	5 (1)
15 (1)	Line-outs won (lost)	13 (1)
10	Pens conceded	15
63 (4)	Rucks won (lost)	137 (7)
36	Kicks from hand	25
180 (32)	Tackles made (missed)	100 (17)
405	Metres made	564
6	Offloads	14
7	Line breaks	7

What they said

South Africa captain Victor Matfield, who is retiring from international rugby: "We would loved to have played in the final tomorrow but unfortunately things didn't go our way.
"We have a lot of respect for Argentina. A bronze medal is better than fourth place.
"I'm just so relieved we won the game. We'll have a beer with Schalk Burger and the guys I've spent so much of my life with."