Argentina have kept their hopes of winning the Rugby Championship alive, edging world champions South Africa 29-28 to temporarily deny the Springboks their first title since 2019.
The tournament now will be decided in the return match between the teams in Nelspruit, South Africa next weekend. South Africa will go into the match atop the table with 19 points, with Argentina five points behind, needing maximum points to claim the championship for the first time.
The Springboks had a chance to seal the title, when replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok attempted a penalty in the 79th minute, but he sent the ball wide of the posts and Argentina held on to claim a famous victory.
"We knew it was going to be a tough match against the back-to-back world champions," said Argentina captain Julian Montoya. "I wasn't worried about the mistakes.
"I was worried when we were 17-0 down, but I told the team, 'We have a plan and we are going to execute it'. We trusted each other.
"We win together and we lose together, and I'm super proud of the team."
In an extraordinary, see-sawing match played in temperatures of 35 degrees at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades, South Africa raced out to a 17-point lead after only 12 minutes, with tries to fullback Aphelele Fassi and center Jesse Kriel, and a penalty to flyhalf Handre Pollard.
With his second conversion, Pollard passed Morne Steyn to move into second place on the Springboks' all-time scoring list.
Left-winger Mateo Carreras sparked the Pumas comeback, scoring a try in the 15th minute and creating another for Pablo Matera in the 22nd minute. Matera's try and another to prop Joel Sclavi came when the Springboks were down to 14 men, with Kurt-Lee Arendse in the sin-bin for a high tackle on Matera.
Sclavi's try in the 27th minute gave Argentina their first lead and they expanded their advantage to 26-17 with a try to flyhalf Tomas Albornoz from a tap penalty.
The Springboks then rallied with a try to scrumhalf Cobus Reinach from a quick penalty tap, which cut the lead to 26-22 at halftime.
In a tight second half, the Springboks reduced the Pumas lead to one point with a penalty to Pollard, then went ahead 28-26 with a penalty to Libbok in the 50th minute, but Argentina rallied to regain the lead at 29-28 with an Albornoz penalty in the 68th minute.
They then held out the Springboks' vaunted 'bomb squad', which had been able to guide them to comeback wins over New Zealand at Johannesburg and Cape Town earlier in the championship.
Eben Etzebeth took the field in the 47th minute to equal fellow lock Victor Matfield's record of 127 test appearances for South Africa. He will claim the record outright, if he plays in the rematch next weekend.
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