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With the pressure off a bit, both South Africa and Argentina came out with a very positive frame of mind in the bronze medal playoff. In the end South Africa clinched third place after having the better of Argentina and winning 24-13 inside the Olympic Stadium in London.
The Pumas once again showed those glimpses of attacking play that has caught everyone’s attention this world cup, but they weren’t able to catch up to the Springboks who showed their class.
South Africa got the win, but wing Bryan Habana could not break the record for most tries all time at the RWC after entering the match tied with New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu on 15. He had plenty of opportunities too, but just couldn’t make it stick.
Both teams started on a high note, running the ball rather than kicking which led to a lot of turnovers when the play broke down. The referee too was on the money from the get go as shown by his yellow card to Argentine scrum-half Tomas Cubelli within three minutes of kick-off after a break from South Africa’s Ruan Pienaar.
The Boks took advantage of the situation to take the lead through a JP Pietersen try wide on the right.After that try, Handre Pollard added three more penalties to give the Boks control of the match with a 16-0 lead at half-time despite the Pumas having had more territory and possession.
Nicolas Sanchez, captaining Argentina for the first time in his career, scored a drop-goal within minutes of the restart to get his side on the board. It was a battle within a battle as Sanchez was battling with Pollard for the leading point scorer’s title at this tournament.
South Africa though hit back immediately from the restart as they worked the ball wide after a turnover and Jesse Kriel and Habana worked the ball to giant lock Eben Etzebeth to touch down in the left corner. Pollard missed the conversion though.
Argentina despite all the attacking play struggled with their discipline, like in the semi-final against Australia and Sanchez got a talking too after they gave away two quick offside penalties. Post that chat, Argentina moved down the other end and Sanchez netted one of their own.
While South Africa’s early charge put the game out of reach for the Argentines, they did give their fans something to cheer about at the end as they went through phase after phase of attack in the final minutes in an attempt to score that elusive try. And they did score when prop Juan Pablo Orlandi rolled over at the top of a ruck with the timer past the 80 minute mark.
Sanchez didn’t get the result for his country, but his kicking ensured that he finishes as the top point scorer with 97 points in the tournament, four ahead of Pollard. Australia’s Bernard Foley and New Zealand’s Dan Carter are still in with an outside chance at taking the title, but they need a mammoth game needing 23 and 35 points respectively if they are to overtake the Argentine.
For Habana, it was disappointment as he had three good chances to score in the first half when South Africa were dominant, but fumbled each one. He failed to reach the first despite a desperate dive, completely messed up the second failing to collect the ball and couldn’t get his feet in order after kicking the ball ahead with the third.
