South Africa’s decline to a mid-table Test team moved closer as the Boks slumped to their first ever defeat in Argentina when they lost 26-24 to the Pumas in Salta on Saturday.

This comes less than a year after losing to Japan and two months after losing a home Test to Ireland for the first time. The Springboks are simply not a major force in rugby any longer. The Boks are just another mediocre Test team capable of the odd upset. They are not contenders for major titles such as the Rugby Championship.

The Pumas were superior over the two matches the sides contested during the past fortnight and deservedly won on home soil on Saturday, a week after they somehow gave up a 10 point lead in the final nine minutes in Nelspruit.

Losing 30-23 at the Mbombela Stadium eight days ago galvanised Argentina and they never looked like losing in Salta even after the Boks edged into a one point lead with six minutes to go.

Morné Steyn’s successful 74th minute penalty raised prospects of the Boks escaping for a second week in a row – and if we’re brutally honest – for a fourth time this season. Both the second and third Tests against Ireland in June could just as easily been lost.

South Africa has won three out of five games this year but they could have all been defeats. Nothing the Boks have done in 2016 has been convincing.

Winning in Salta would have further masked the problems the team faces, so perhaps in the long-term this loss will be a good thing, although it’s hard to see where coach Allister Coetzee could turn in terms of personnel.

With Handré Pollard and Pat Lambie injured his flyhalf options are limited in the crucial position while injured No 8 Duane Vermeulen’s physicality and leadership are also missed.

The current backline is inexperienced with JP Pietersen and Willie le Roux both oddly viewed as surplus to requirements by Coetzee.

Much has been made of the Boks trying to play a more ‘expansive’ game. Whatever that really means. The team playing the percentages and making the most of their opportunities usually wins Test matches.

The All Blacks are serial winners because they seek territorial dominance through any means possible, often via kicking, and then they have the skills, confidence and decision-makers to make it count.

In Salta the Bok pack was strong in the set piece but there was no cohesion in broken play and they failed to control the ball at all in the first half. Flank Oupa Mohoje and No 8 Warren Whiteley were virtually anonymous. The surprise after the first 40 minutes was that Argentina only led 13-3 at the break, such was their dominance.

After halftime the Boks showed more intensity and respect for possession, with both the aforementioned Mohoje and Whiteley growing into the contest. That period resulted in a try for veteran wing Bryan Habana – his 65th in Test rugby – coming soon after out-of-sorts flyhalf Elton Jantjies slotted a penalty. The scores were briefly level but the contest was not even.

Pumas flank Juan Manuel Leguizamon barged over for his team’s second try soon after Habana struck and normal service was resumed. A late Pieter-Steph du Toit try and two penalties from Steyn gave a glimmer of hope, before Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias’s late penalty saw the Pumas home.

Scorers:

Argentina – Tries: Joaquin Tuculet, Juan Manuel Leguizamon. Conversions: Nicolas Sanchez, Juan Martin Hernandez. Penalties: Sanchez (2), Hernandez, Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias.

South Africa – Tries: Bryan Habana, Pieter-Steph du Toit. Conversion: Johan Goosen. Penalties: Elton Jantjies (2), Morné Steyn (2).