Springboks win first Rugby Championship title since 2019 in style

MBOMBELA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa won its first Rugby Championship title since 2019 in style by blowing away contender Argentina 48-7 on Saturday.

In a strange quirk, while the Springboks have owned the last two Rugby World Cups, they haven't been able to win the trophy for southern hemisphere supremacy.

Until now.

They capped a tournament they led from day one — Aug. 10 — with a handsome last-round victory by seven tries to one that exceeded expectations and celebrated lock Eben Etzebeth becoming outright the most capped Springbok in his 128th test.

South Africa was prevented from clinching the title last weekend in Santiago del Estero, where Argentina ended the Springboks' unbeaten run 29-28. But the world champions needed only a single bonus point to finish the job when they returned home.

A side of 10 changes and restocked with World Cup winners led by a commanding 27-7 at halftime, weathered an attempted Pumas comeback, and finished with three converted tries in the last 11 minutes.

“We've used 35 (players) in the Rugby Championship but when you get to these crunch games it's the older heads and the calmer heads that sometimes pull it through,” coach Rassie Erasmus said.

“It was a gutsy performance and there was enough effort, and I do think there were brilliant plays at stages. To keep them to one score was great.”

Argentina buckled under relentless pressure, conceding its first yellow cards in the tournament; three of them, one of them becoming a red card to replacement flanker Pablo Matera.

“It's heartbreaking because of the way we lost not because of the result,” Pumas coach Felipe Contepomi said. “We never were the team we wanted to be. They were better from minute one to 80.”

South Africa made its mood known in the second minute when it waived off a kickable penalty and forced a five-meter lineout. That didn't work, so it forced three straight five-meter scrums. Finally, center Damian de Allende was first receiver, Manie Libbok ran back door and fullback Aphelele Fassi straightened and busted through two defenders to cross.

Libbok, who missed a late penalty last weekend for the win and title, was relieved of goalkicking duty but had a starring role. His distribution, vision and defense were top-notch.

Scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, combining with Libbok for the first time, nailed the conversion and the next two goalkicks.

Another penalty kicked to the corner finished with flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit leaping over the ruck NFL-style to score.

Trailing 14-0 after 14 minutes, Argentina reminded of its qualities when flyhalf Tomas Albornoz converted his own try.

But after winger Mateo Carreras was sin-binned for recklessly taking out an aerial Fassi, Fassi scored after a du Toit turnover and Jesse Kriel break.

Right on halftime, Libbok and Fassi set up wing Cheslin Kolbe to step one defender and crash through a second to score and make it 27-7.

In a first half which flew by, the Pumas struggled to hold back the Springboks and took hits. Backs Santiago Chocobares and Rodrigo Isgro — the sevens star — and flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez had already been forced off.

But the Pumas fought back in the new half with more possession. But the Boks defense was too good.

Matera reduced the Pumas to 14 again after his yellow card for a shoulder to the head of Vincent Koch. That turned into a red card. And when they dropped to 13 men when fullback Santiago Carreras was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on in the 68th, the Springboks showed no mercy.

Malcolm Marx scored from a lineout maul, du Toit crossed for his second try after a Kurt-Lee Arendse break, and Jesse Kriel scored from a Handre Pollard chip.

Pollard converted all three tries after replacing Libbok, who was cheered off for leading the Springboks to only their second Rugby Championship title in 15 years.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

South Africa's captain Siya Kolisi, right, is tackled by Argentina's Rodrigo Isgro during a rugby championship test match at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Argentina players react after losing against South Africa at the end of a rugby championship test match at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's captain Siya Kolisi takes pictures with fans as he celebrate his team defeated Argentina winning the rugby championship at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's Aphelele Fassi views the ball during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Argentina, at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa players celebrate with the trophy after defeating Argentina and winning the rugby championship at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's captain Siya Kolisi, right, is tackled by Argentina's Rodrigo Isgro during a rugby championship test match at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's Aphelele Fassi scores a try against Argentina during a rugby championship test match at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South Africa's Eben Etzebeth, right, is tackled by Argentina's Joel Sclavi during a rugby championship test match at Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas, bringing a final close to days of upheaval in Washington after Congress passed a bipartisan budget plan just past the deadline and rejected Donald Trump's core demand in the negotiations.

The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.”

Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was "a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar.

The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker's gavel.

One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well.

Yet Trump's last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.

There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president.

GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it's far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)