New Zealand suffered their heaviest defeat of all time in a 43-10 home loss to South Africa in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
Two tries from Cheslin Kolbe (25,43) plus scores from Damian Willemse (61), Kwagga Smith (69), RG Snyman (73) and Andre Esterhuizen (79) saw South Africa record a remarkable success as Manie Libbok added 13 points from the boot.
An 18th-minute try from Leroy Carter had given the All Blacks the lead, but the home fans were stunned by a barrage of late tries.
The result sees South Africa leapfrog New Zealand in the Rugby Championship table with two games left to play. All four teams have two victories after four rounds of matches.
The Springboks had trailed 10-0 after an early try to debutant Carter but scored 36 unanswered points in an extraordinary onslaught which turned the match – and the entire Rugby Championship – on its head.
Kolbe lit the spark with the Springboks’ first try from an intercept, then grabbed another early in the second half.
RG Snyman celebrates a try with Williamse
Despite a succession of backline injuries in a chaotic second half, Willemse, Smith, Snyman and Esterhuizen then crossed for the Springboks in the final 20 minutes as the clinical away side recorded their most dominant win over the All Blacks in over 100 years of matches.
Australia 26-28 Argentina
Highlights from the Rugby Championship match between Australia and Argentina in Sydney
Santiago Carreras scored 23 points off the tee as Argentina punished Australia’s poor discipline earlier on Saturday.
Argentina scored one try through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the rest of the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd at Sydney Football Stadium.
In a frantic opening spell, the Pumas took the lead through a fifth-minute Carreras penalty before Joseph-Aukuso Sua’ali’i barged over to score a converted try two minutes later to give the home side the lead for the only time in the match.
Argentina celebrate Julian Montoya’s charge-down try
The advantage was wiped out almost immediately when Argentina claimed the restart but after a knock-on, the Wallabies earned a scrum free-kick. Captain Montoya, leading the side in his 50th Test, then attempted a charge down and scored a try for Argentina.
Carreras converted and kicked a penalty three minutes later and Argentina led 13-7 after just 15 minutes.
Two more Carreras penalties – he had four in the first half – gave the Pumas a 12-point half-time lead and he kicked his fifth in the 44th minute after the Wallabies were called for obstruction to extend Argentina’s advantage to 22-7.
Santiago Carreras kicked 23 points
Two more Carreras penalties put Argentina 21 points ahead with 16 minutes to play, but the Wallabies roared back with two tries for Filipo Daugunu and another for Andrew Kellaway, trimming the deficit to two points with a minute left.
However, the Pumas’ defence stayed firm in the closing stages to earn their second win of the tournament and avenge their 28-24 loss to Australia in Townsville a week ago.
“It was so emotional in the last 15 minutes,” said Carreras.
“It was such an amazing game to watch (for the crowd). I’m really proud of the boys for this win.”
Australia captain Harry Wilson said the Wallabies “made it really hard for ourselves, discipline let us down badly.”
“We are normally a disciplined team.” he added. “We have a lot of points in us but a lack of discipline made it hard for us. The support has been truly special and we’re going to keep trying to earn it. It really does lift us.”
Australia head coach Joe Schmidt said he was “dominated by disappointment”.
“We had enough of the game to get the result, but a lot of it was our own errors,” he said. “Argentina are a really good team, but when we’re making 11 line-breaks to three and scoring four tries to one and we don’t get a result? It’s incredibly frustrating and disappointing.”
When the Rugby Championship resumes on September 27, New Zealand will host Australia at Auckland’s Eden Park and the Springboks play Argentina in Durban.
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