South Africa have won the battle, but lost the war, after their 38-21 victory over ill-disciplined Argentina at a soldout King's Park in Durban, a result that handed the 2022 Rugby Championship title to New Zealand.
The All Blacks top the standings with 19 points from their six games, one more than South Africa, who could not manage the tryscoring bonus point they needed to go with a 39-point winning margin on the scoreboard to claim the trophy.
Instead, Argentina ran them close at Durban, but were once again let down by their discipline, as they received four yellow cards and conceded two penalty tries. The Boks also scored through No.8 Jasper Wiese, loose-forward Siya Kolisi and replacement fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse.
The visitors looked dangerous every time they had ball in hand, and scored three tries through scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou, back row Juan Martin Gonzalez and centre Matias Moroni, but spent much of the time on defence, as they conceded 22 penalties in the game.
Reuters