Wing S'busiso Nkosi scored two excellent solo tries as much-changed South Africa survived a massive scare at home to see off Argentina with a 24-18 victory in their one-off test at Loftus Versfeld.
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Springboks first-five Elton Jantjies kicked 14 points as the home side battled to open up the visitors' defence in a scrappy World Cup warm-up clash that included numerous errors from both sides.
Argentina scored tries through lock Guido Petti and skipper Pablo Matera and might have had more were it not for poor handling at vital moments as they slipped to a ninth successive test defeat.
The Boks fielded a completely new starting XV from the one that thumped Argentina 46-13 in Salta the week before to lift the Rugby Championship.
The South American side also came into the match with 10 changes, which contributed to the disjointed nature of the contest.
"We wanted to play a nice brand of rugby, but we scraped it through. We played too much of the game in our own half," Bok skipper Schalk Brits said.
"We wanted to create some depth and keep the momentum up. We are now looking forward to the World Cup."
Reuters
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