Cape Town - The Springboks put an end to their losing run with a 26-12 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
As it happened: Argentina go down to the Boks
The Boks led 20-9 at the break.
Pat Lambie opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a penalty before Argentina responded with a penalty from the boot of Nicolas Sanchez.
Lambie added another three points in the 17th minute.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana stunned the home crowd into silence when he crossed in the corner in the 26th minute. Lambie slotted the conversion from the corner to keep his 100% kicking record alive.
Lwazi Mvovo scored a brilliant try after some fine interplay from the forwards. The Sharks flyer still had plenty to do as he shrugged off three tacklers to dot down for the visitors. Lambie added the extras.
Sanchez then reduced the deficit with two more penalties.
Lambie added three points after the break with a drop goal before Sanchez and Lambie traded further penalties.
The hosts failed to get back into the contest and were dealt a blow when lock Tomas Lavanini was sin-binned for a cynical foul at the breakdown.
The Springboks failed to turn their dominance into more points despite being camped in the Argentine 22m for large parts in the last 10 minutes.
Scorers:
South Africa
Tries: Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo
Conversions: Pat Lambie (2)
Penalties: Lambie (3)
Drop goal: Lambie
Argentina
Penalties: Nicolas Sanchez (4)
Teams:
Argentina
15-Joaquin Tuculet, 14-Santiago Cordero, 13-Matias Moroni, 12-Juan Martin Hernandez, 11-Juan Imhoff, 10-Nicolas Sanchez, 9-Martin Landajo; 8-Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7-Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6-Tomas Lezana, 5-Tomas Lavanini, 4-Benjamin Macome, 3-Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2-Agustin Creevy (captain), 1-Marcos Ayerza
Substitutes: 16-Julian Montoya, 17-Lucas Noguera, 18-Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19-Matias Alemanno, 20-Pablo Matera, 21-Tomas Cubelli, 22-Juan Pablo Socino, 23-Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino
South Africa
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20, Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Jan Serfontein