"South Africa secured back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time with a slick of luck, a show of character and, most significantly of all, a trademark flex of their unrivalled muscle. A fifth consecutive win at Twickenham in front of a sea of green was far from flawless but with the hooker Malcolm Marx in destructive form, the Springboks are worthy winners of a thrilling competition."
"They got off to the worst possible start when Canan Moodie was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Juan Cruz Mallia. Argentina had started by far the brighter and capitalised on their numerical advantage just a couple of minutes later, Bautista Delguy wriggling over on the right-hand side after an impressively patient buildup by the Pumas. South Africa were rattled."
South Africa secured back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time, combining luck, character and overwhelming physical power. A fifth consecutive win at Twickenham came in front of many South African supporters despite an imperfect performance. Hooker Malcolm Marx produced destructive form that contributed significantly to victory. The Springboks' scrum overwhelmed Argentina's pack, producing decisive dominance in set pieces. Argentina began strongly after Canan Moodie was sin-binned and scored through Bautista Delguy, briefly rattling South Africa. Damien Willemse made errors while Argentina capitalised on numerical advantage and defended robustly, but South Africa recovered to claim the title.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]