It was a hard-fought, grind by the Boks, who only just edged the Pumas in the Rugby Championship decider.
South Africa beat Argentina 29-27 in the final game of the 2025 competition to win the Rugby Championship title for the second year running. It is the first time the Boks have gone back-to-back.
This is how The Citizen rated the performance of the Bok players on Saturday, out of 10.
Damian Willemse 7: He knocked on badly early on but then never put a foot wrong. Delivered a steady performance, with a few good, dangerous runs, and was solid in defence.
Cheslin Kolbe 6: He made a handful of runs and pulled off an important intercept to stop an Argentina attack, but he also made a long pass that wasn’t on that led to a try for the Pumas. Not his best day.
Canan Moodie 7: He received a yellow card for head-on-head contact, but was otherwise solid in defence, making plenty tackles and good reads. Left the action in 50th minute.
Damian de Allende 7: He made a number of tackles, and carried strongly at times, and also put in a few good runs. Not his busiest game, but solid in everything he did.
Ethan Hooker 8: Another busy, hard-working performance. He tried hard to get stuck in, tackled well and chased balls. He’s made it hard to leave him out next time.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 8: He looked dangerous with ball in hand, made a few good runs and line breaks and worked hard in defence. Kicked well, but made some poor passes.
Cobus Reinach 7: He scored two well-taken tries (for an additional mark) and put pressure on the opposition, but his kicking was just okay, while he made some iffy passes.
Jasper Wiese 7: The Boks are so much better off with him in the side; he carried regularly and made plenty tackles. A busy operator.
Pieter-Steph du Toit 8: Another big performance… he was busy in the tight-loose exchanges, worked hard all over the field, and made his tackles. Also won lineout ball.
Siya Kolisi 6: He made a few big hits, especially early on, and kept working hard as a carrier and cleaner. Overall, not the most influential outing and left the action in the 60th.
Ruan Nortje 7: A big performance in all departments… he ran the lineouts well and won his ball and contested well. He made tons of tackles and got stuck in at the breakdowns.
Eben Etzebeth 6: He got stuck in at the rucks and in the lineouts and pulled off a number of tackles, but wasn’t the presence he should have been. He left the action in the 48th minute.
Thomas du Toit 8: He laid the platform for a dominant scrumming performance by the Boks, and busied himself with tackles and the odd carry in the loose.
Malcolm Marx 9: He played his part in a great scrumming performance, won a penalty at a breakdown (twice) and scored two tries, both well-taken. His lineout throwing was spot on.
Ox Nche 8: He scrummed excellently, putting the Boks on top up front and he was all over the action with plenty of tackles. A good return to the team after missing out last week.
Bench 7: Jan-Hendrik Wessels with cleans, carries and tackles, RG Snyman with carries, lineout wins and offloads, and Kwagga Smith with a few hard runs and breakdown steals made the biggest impact. Wilco Louw also scrummed the life out of the Pumas. Bongi Mbonambi, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok and Jesse Kriel, who did some nice things late on, also featured from the bench.
