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 won the last two Rugby World Cups, they haven't been able to claim the southern hemisphere crown.

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 their outright most capped international in his 128th test.

The Springboks were prevented from clinching the title last weekend in Santiago del Estero, where Argentina ended the Boks' unbeaten run 29-28. But the world champions still 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.

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

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, 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 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 after a Kurt-Lee Arendse run, 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.

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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)

Russia's top diplomat warned Saturday against “trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power,” delivering a U.N. General Assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Russia sees as Western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere — including inside the United Nations itself.

Three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin aired a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of using Ukraine — which Russia invaded in February 2022 — as a tool to try “to defeat" Moscow strategically, and “preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade.”

“I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is,” he said.

The specter of nuclear threats and confrontation has hung over the war in Ukraine since its start. Shortly before the invasion, Putin reminded the world that his country was “ one of the most powerful nuclear states,” and he put its nuclear forces on high alert shortly after. His nuclear rhetoric has ramped up and toned down at various points since.

On Wednesday, Putin said that if attacked by any country supported by a nuclear-armed nation, Russia will consider that a joint attack.

He didn’t specify whether that would bring a nuclear response, but he stressed that Russia could use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional assault that posed a “critical threat to our sovereignty.”

The United States and the European Union called his statements “irresponsible.”

The new posture was seen as a message to the U.S. and other Western countries as Ukraine seeks their go-ahead to strike Russia with longer-range weapons. The Biden administration this week announced an additional $2.7 billion in military aid for Ukraine, but it doesn’t include the type of long-range arms that Zelenskyy is seeking, nor a green light to use such weapons to strike deep into Russia.

There was no immediate response to Lavrov's address from the U.S., which had a junior diplomat taking notes in its assembly seat as he spoke.

More than 2½ years into the fighting, Russia is making slow but continuing gains in Ukraine’s east. Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russian territory with missiles and drones and embarrassed Moscow with an audacious incursion by troops in a border region last month.

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has pushed what he calls a peace formula to end the war. Provisions include expelling all Russian forces from Ukraine, ensuring accountability for war crimes, freeing prisoners of war and deportees, and more.

Lavrov dismissed Zelenskyy's formula as a “doomed ultimatum.”

At a news conference after his speech, he said resolving the conflict hinges on fixing its “root causes” — what Moscow contends is the Kyiv government's repression of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, and NATO's expansion in eastern Europe over the years, which Russia sees as a threat to its security.

See more of AP’s coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations

Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Russia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)