Siya Kolisi hails record-breaking Eben Etzebeth as Springboks exact revenge

MBOMBELA – South Africa captain Siya Kolisi hailed lock Eben Etzebeth after a 48-7 victory over ill-disciplined Argentina clinched the Rugby Championship on Sept 28.

Etzebeth, 32, played the entire 80 minutes in Mbombela as he overtook Victor Matfield to become the most-capped Springbok with 128 caps.

The Springboks scored seven tries, five coming when the Pumas were numerically disadvantaged in the final-round match. It helped them to their first title since 2019.

Flanker Pablo Matera was red-carded in the second half and the Carreras brothers, wing Mateo and fullback Santiago, were sin-binned, one in each half.

Nevertheless, it was sweet revenge for South Africa, after they missed a late penalty to lose a penultimate-round match 29-28 in Argentina on Sept 21.

“I’m so grateful to have been able to walk this journey with you and I’m so grateful for your support,” flanker Kolisi told Etzebeth.

“From the time Rassie (Erasmus) made me captain (in 2018), you have had my back. You are so smart and I am so proud of you.

“I cannot wait to tell my grandchildren that I played with Eben Etzebeth. I love you, my brother.”

Etzebeth responded by saying: “This team is a bunch of unbelievable guys and we have the best supporters in the world.

“That is why I play rugby, to play for this team, it is so special. We just want to do the country proud because rugby is like a religion in South Africa.

“To play for the Springboks is the best feeling and hopefully I can stay fit and the coaches keep selecting me.”

Kolisi admitted he was almost “lost for words” after a bonus-point victory that saw the Springboks finish eight points ahead of runners-up New Zealand.

“It has been a journey and a half. We were hurting after losing to the Pumas last week, but the way we stood up tonight says a lot about this team.

“What (coach) Felipe Contepomi is doing with Argentina is amazing. They are really a team you cannot dismiss any more.

“They are a proud nation and you can see that in the way they keep working. There is no doubt they are going to get better and better.

“The Mbombela crowd were amazing. They are the fuel that drives us. They are the reason we get up when we are tired.

“Coach Rassie always tells us that we cannot say ‘thank you’ in words, so we must do it with our actions.”

Erasmus said that Los Pumas are a tough side to crack and “had to be softened up” before three late tries delivered the title.

Aphelele Fassi and Pieter-Steph du Toit crossed the line twice, with the Boks’ other tries coming from Cheslin Kolbe, Malcolm Marx and Jesse Kriel.

Argentina’s sole try came via fly-half Tomas Albornoz.

“While we are trying to play a more attacking game, we still want to be physical, have scrum dominance, and our line-out worked very well tonight,” Erasmus said.

“Argentina tried to stop our tight five all the time – it was a bit like slow poison.”

“It was a learning school for us last week,” added the coach, referring to the 29-28 penultimate-round loss in Argentina.

“I did not expect that sort of scoreline tonight because Argentina are very difficult to play against.

“Things were really tight in the beginning and they kept us out. But we did not want to stand back, it was all about temperament and leadership for us.

“We have used 35 players in the Rugby Championship, but for the crunch games, it is the older heads who pull us through.

“Argentina are physical, nippy and great on attack. Jerry Flannery (defence coach) was very nervous before the game, but we restricted them to just one try.

“We played brilliantly in stages, much better than we did last weekend. It was not perfect, but there was some really good stuff to build on.” AFP