South Africa's fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu dives to score a try, 2025. Photo: PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP
First five Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 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 at King's Park in Durban.
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 hooker Malcolm Marx, wing Cheslin Kolbe, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit (two) and replacement back Manie Libbok.
Argentina were tenacious in the opening period but trailed 25-23 at halftime as they scored tries through centre Santiago Chocobares, replacement back Tomas 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 points), 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 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 halftime 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.
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 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.
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 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 scrumhalf 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
