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SALTA. — Replacement fly-half Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias kicked a penalty two minutes from time to give Argentina a 26-24 Rugby Championship victory over South Africa in Salta on Saturday.

It was the first home triumph for the Pumas over the Springboks after a draw and 10 defeats since they first met in South America 23 years ago.

The lead changed several times before Iglesias, the third-choice goal-kicker after fly-half Nicolas Sanchez and centre Juan Martin Hernandez retired injured, slotted the match-deciding kick.

“Argentina were very good while we made a lot of errors,” said Springboks skipper and hooker Adriaan Strauss.

“We need to take a long, hard look at ourselves and fix what has gone wrong before playing in Australia and New Zealand next month.”

South Africa fly-half Elton Jantjies went into the match under a cloud after a series of indifferent performances and he fluffed an early chance to score from a penalty, which drifted right. — AFP.