- Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber says he is "unbelievably proud" of his players after Saturday's victory over Argentina.
- The Boks missed out on a bonus point but got the job done to remain undefeated against the Pumas.
- South Africa are now top of the Rugby Championship table.
There was no bonus point, and the Springboks were from their best in the last 25 minutes of the game, but head coach Jacques Nienaber says he is "unbelievably proud" of his players following Saturday's 29-10 win over Argentina in Gqeberha.
The Boks were 29-3 up after 55 minutes and looked set to take the game away from the Pumas and bag the bonus point, but it was not to be.
The win is enough, however, to see South Africa move to the top of the tournament table with two wins from two after they also beat Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last weekend.
Speaking to media after Saturday's clash, Nienaber acknowledged that his side had not finished the game strongly, but he pointed out the bigger picture of using those minutes to give opportunities to inexperienced Boks like Damian Willemse, Jaden Hendrikse and debutant Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg.
"I thought our game management in the first three quarters of the game was excellent," said Nienaber.
"Obviously, it wasn't perfect if you look at the opportunities we created in the back-end of the second half that we didn't finish.
"We would have loved to get the bonus point, and we were going full out for it.
"Our strategic goals will always be to win and to defend the Rugby Championship, but looking to the future to 2023, you'll have to get some experience into the broader squad and I thought we did that well."
Nienaber was pleased with how his players had come through a testing period of relentless fixtures that also saw them victorious in their series against the British & Irish Lions.
"One has to look at it as a perspective that, if you take the SA 'A' game against the Bulls and add that up with British & Irish Lions series, that's six straight matches, and you seldom play six Test matches on the trot," he said.
"At the back-end of it, six Test matches with this level of intensity takes its toll, so we had to do some squad rotations.
"I'm unbelievably proud of the squad and the players. The people outside the squad won't know, but today was a massive Test match for us.
"The players were unbelievable."