Imhoff hat-trick helps Argentina beat South Africa

Willie le Roux will also undergo scans on his ankle after the full-back limped off at King’s Park, although Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez and JP Pietersen will all have their fitness assessed on Monday and could be available next weekend in Buenos Aires.

The incumbent Pumas celebrated their first win over the Springboks in 20 Tests since 1993.

Imhoff scored his second off a simple blindside move from a scrum in the 31st minute to take Argentina out to 21-6.

Meanwhile, No. 2-ranked South Africa dwelt on one of its worst performances in recent memory.

A Rugby Championship campaign that has gone pear-shaped for South Africa means great significance is being attached to the final-round clash with Argentina in Durban Saturday.

The Pumas and Argentina’s Marcos Ayerza believes that the Springboks are the most physical sides in the world and proper preparation is key ahead of this match.

It left them last in the Rugby Championship, the first time since the introduction of the South Americans in 2012 that the bottom team has not been Argentina.

But a drop-goal from Bosch kept Argentina in front by 17 points going into the final 15 minutes, with South Africa managing only a late Habana try.

“We will never accept that we lost our last two Tests”, Meyer said. On both occasions we were in positions to win and we let it slip, which is simply not good enough.

Their backs were causing huge problems, too, with scrumhalf Tomas Cubelli skipping through a couple of missed tackles to set up Imhoff for his first try in the 23rd.

De Villiers fractured his jaw, which will rule him out for up to six weeks. It didn’t work.

“It certainly is a low point”, De Villiers said. There are a lot of things we need to sort out and showed that it should rather happen now than in the World Cup.

South Africa narrowed the gap to 21-13 when lock Lood de Jager used his bulk to barge over and Pollard converted.

That night in Cardiff we were supposed to be toasting Wales’s first win over a Sanzar nation in six years, but the conversation invariably turned back to De Villiers and what a South African in our midst termed “De Voodoo”.

Imhoff’s hat trick try three minutes into the second half was contentious.

Down 27-13 at half-time, the Springboks believed play had not restarted after an injury stoppage, and were caught napping on their tryline when Argentina fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez took a quick tap penalty.

Argentina’s progression to a top-tier rugby team hasn’t come as quickly as expected after it surprisingly made the semifinals of the 2007 World Cup, and the Rugby Championship has been a succession of defeats and a wake-up call for the Pumas.