Looking composed at times and dishevelled at others the second-seeded Baby Boks always had the unpredictable Argentinians under control in the final game of the first day of the IRB Under-19 World Rugby Cup as they held on to win 62-18.
But South Africans have a lot of work to do before their second round match against Ireland at Woodburn in Pietermaritzburg next Tuesday. Even though they did run rampant with 36 unanswered points in the second half when the Argentinians simply ran out of steam.
The Junior Springboks started like men possessed with a series of scintillating forward and backs moves that baffled the free-running Argentine side as they rattled up three early tries to lead 19-0 after just 10 minutes.
But then errors set in and the South Americans with livewire wing Joaquin Garcia Teran, a terrier on attack, exploited alarming gaps in the locals defence as fumbles and indecision allowed the Argentinians to hit back with three tries on their own accord before halftime which was taken with the scoreline at 26-18.
The South Americans were also well served by a tricky customer in scrumhalf Joaquin Gorina who spelt trouble with a capital T every time he was given a chance to run at the South Africans. They were particularly good on the speedy counter-attack that had the South African defenders at sixes and sevens so much so that flank Richard Strauss was yellow-carded in one furious exchange.
Earlier in the day favoured sides New Zealand, England, Australia and Ireland won their opening round games while France and Wales went down.
When the South Africans were functioning in top gear they were particularly well served by fullback Francois Steyn, centre PJ Vermeulen and locks Johan Snyman and skipper Alistair Hargreaves.
With several changes in the second period the Springboks looked better and stretched their lead to 38-18 with a quarter of an hour left and then the floodgates opened.
But there still remains a few urgent questions to be answered if the locals are to be consider serious threats by the end of the tournament in mid-April
The Springboks won by seven goals, two tries and a penalty to a goal, a try and two penalty goals to Argentina.
Scorers:
South Africa 62 (26): Tries: Francois Steyn, Pieter Myburgh, Shandre’ Frolick (2), Alistair Hargreaves, Jacques April Randall, Mahlatse Ralepelle, Jody Rose, Jowayne van Wyk Conversions: Francois Steyn (4), Jody Rose (3) Penalties: Jody Rose (1)D
Argentina: 18 (18): Tries: Maeto Lanusse, Franisco Cuneo, Benjamin Macome Conversions: Benjamin Macome (2). Penalties: Benjamin Macome (1)
– Sapa