Lood de Jager stood tall in his 50th Test as the Springboks claimed a 29-10 win over Argentina in Gqeberha on Saturday, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.
The victory was straightforward enough, with the defending Rugby Championship champions leading comfortably throughout, but it wasn’t quite mission accomplished as they missed out on a bonus point.
There were several strong individual performances at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, none more so than these three standouts:
Lood de Jager
The man of the moment marked his milestone with a typically towering and industrious performance and deservedly came away with the Man of the Match award. Given his injury woes since the World Cup final two years ago, it’s quite remarkable that he’s in his prime as far as output is concerned.
Always a hard grafter, the Munster giant has taken his work rate to the highest level since being back with the Springboks. The world champions’ game plan boils down to defence and physical dominance in the set pieces and mauls. De Jager spearheaded the charge in all of these departments, making 13 tackles with a 100% success rate.
He was the epitome of a lineout general, making all the right calls, securing six takes and snatching the only steal of the match four minutes before half-time. The 28-year-old also marshalled the mauls, hit plenty of rucks and made a pack-high seven carries to cap a complete performance.
Malcolm Marx
Marx patiently waited for an opportunity to return to the starting line-up, making 10 straight appearances off the bench before he donned the Green and Gold No.2 jersey again and went off like an exploding ticking time bomb. He dominated every collision he was involved in and showed his world-class pilfering prowess as he strong-armed his way to breakdown penalties in the fifth and 43rd minute.
The Kubota Spears star made nine tackles, six strong carries and scored a try but most importantly, he was flawless with his lineout throwing, which was further highlighted when Bongi Mbonambi came on and missed the target to squander the Springboks’ two best opportunities to secure the bonus-point try. It was a reminder of Marx’s all-round class and another indication that Mbonambi, who’s been such a standout in recent years, has hit a bit of a wobble and is in need of a break.
Handré Pollard
Pollard was polished and perfect off the tee, slotting seven out of seven for a personal haul of 19 points. It’s that dependability that allows the Springboks to build scoreboard pressure and eventually take the game away from the opposition, which was exactly what happened in the Windy City.
Just as impressive was his penalty kicks for touch; he was laser accurate (until his last kick) and got great distance to truly punish the Pumas for their mistakes, one of a number of touch-finders on the 5m line leading to a maul try in the 51st minute. His distribution, as sparsely as it was, was on the money and his up-and-unders and crosskick were exemplary as always.
Honourable Mentions
Franco Mostert made an unrivalled 15 hits in another big shift, a perfect Segway to Thomas du Toit, who was as impressive in open play as he was at scum time, making eight tackles and winning a textbook turnover on the deck in the 19th minute. Trevor Nyakane’s injury saw the Sharks prop switch to his stronger side at tighthead, where he won a penalty that earned the Springboks three points.
Lukhanyo Am made the first line break and saved a try as only he could, Willie le Roux had a strong showing topped off by a terrific try-assist for Makazole Mapimpi while Cobus Reinach continued his good form even though he took too long with his box kicks and was charged down twice.
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