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In what amounts to a somewhat cruel sense of irony, Grant Williams' nasty concussion incident and the lack of consequences for Juan Cruz Mallia was a microcosm for the Springboks' final Test on South African soil before embarking on their World Cup quest.
On a Doornfontein night where they should've been miles ahead of a plucky yet generally overpowered Argentinian team, South Africa could only muster an eye-opening narrow 22-21 victory, just like Lavanini should've received some form of a sanction for his clumsy barge into the hosts' scrumhalf but didn't.
But should-ifs don't matter much in the cut-throat environment that is Test rugby.
And, by all accounts, Jacques Nienaber and his troops will leave for Buenos Aires - the setting for a first World Cup warm-up - late on Saturday night with distinctly mixed feelings.
A much-needed win is in the bag, but was the manner in which it was achieved a tangible step in the right direction with the world title defence in mind?
For the majority of the first half, it certainly didn't seem so despite, the shock of seeing Williams stretchered off in the opening minute.
The nippy Sharks half-back, granted a deserved first start after some impressive showings off the bench, had attempted a clearance from a messy kick-off receipt, only to find Mallia in his way attempting an overly robust charge-down.
Williams had actually managed to kick the ball yet that didn't deter the Pumas fullback from still jumping into him.
While virtually every person in the stadium bayed for Mallia's blood, referee Andrew Brace and his assistants were defiant, ostensibly because he had made contact with the kick and was therefore "committed".
Spurred on by the setback, the Boks knuckled down and dominated the rest of the half, winning the collisions with relative ease and providing the Pumas much discomfort at scrum time.
That ascendancy would translate into two tries, one of the scored by a brilliant, marauding Eben Eztebeth.
Following a kick to touch after Argentina went off-side, Etzebeth and Malcolm Marx combined for a neat short line-out, allowing momentum from where Steven Kitshoff launched a defining carry towards the line.
Willie le Roux then proceeded to throw a delightful pass, where Etzebeth was on hand to finish off superbly in the right corner.
Another errant piece of indiscipline, this time by Puma blindsider Lucas Paolos at a maul, led to another from the kick to the corner, where Damian de Allende - prominent throughout whether it be in terms of making play or defending - was on hand to round off from another productive maul.
However, that score was preceded moments before by Argentina spurning their own compelling attacking opportunity, where Kitshoff made the vital steal at the breakdown.
That would become a bit of a theme on the night - the Boks truly had some hairy moments where they had to be bailed out by some oustanding defence - they had to complete 179 tackles - and the poaching prowess of Marx and Kitshoff, particularly when the Argentinians did manage to copy the pressure kicking game that was so successful for the All Blacks a fortnight ago.
A wasted scoring opportunity early in the second half, when a Faf de Klerk tap penalty led to Marvin Orie dropping the potential money pass seemed to throw the hosts off their game as they struggled to find the foothold they had established earlier.
That allowed the gutsy Argentinians to open up the game more, who seemed to have been condemned to a more comprehensive defeat when De Klerk intercepted one of their passes to allow Manie Libbok to score the try that gave the Boks some breathing space.
Instead, the South Africans continued to let the penalty count mount - leading to De Allende being sent to the bin for a deliberate knock-down - and duly let their dam-wall burst, allowing the Pumas to make the final scoreline uncomfortably narrow.
In fact, if pivot Santi Carreras had managed to convert just one of his three missed penalties, the ending of the story would've been very different.
Point scorers:
Springboks - 22 (15)
Tries: Eben Etzebeth, Damian de Allende, Manie Libbok
Conversions: Libbok (2)
Penalty: Libbok
Argentina - 21 (9)
Tries: Mateo Carreras, Gonzalo Betranou
Conversion: Santiago Carreras
Penalties: Santiago Carreras (3)
