Rugby
Argentina deserve more credit─── 08:42 Mon, 25 Aug 2014
Bloemfontein - Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer hailed the character of his team in the wake of a lucky 33-31 Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Salta.
Morné Steyn landed penalty three minutes from time and give the Springboks a second win over the Pumas within eight days.
It rounded off last-quarter comeback by the South Africa as tries from right-wing Cornal Hendricks and flank Marcell Coetzee wiped out a 12-point deficit.
Meyer conceded that scrums are a major cause for concern, and it’s something they have to fix before facing the Wallabies next week.
Meyer said his team had shown great character to pull this one through.
“All credit to Argentina though, they’ve been together for a month and you could see that today as they played some great rugby,” said Meyer.
“We don’t want to say every week that we’ve shown great character, but we’ve now won nine out of our last 10 away games and I think the guys have shown that they know how to win.
“At one stage, we were down and out and the team came back. We know there are a lot of areas we have to work on, but we’re still in this competition.”
Captain Jean de Villiers said the Argentines are getting the credit they deserve following their last two matches against the men in green-and-gold.
“I’ve said it before, but I really think Argentina is a much better team than what their world-ranking shows, and they showed it again today,” said De Villiers.
“We’re happy that we could pull it through, but it could’ve gone either way.”
De Villiers said the energy brought by the Springbok replacements was probably where his team won the match.
South Africa face Australia next week Saturday in Perth in their first match of their Australasian tour.
Morgan Piek /OFM News
