LONDON (AP) — South Africa retained the Rugby Championship crown for the first time after beating Argentina 29-27 at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Springboks won the title on points difference from New Zealand after one of the tightest championships in history.
The All Blacks beat Australia 28-14 in Perth hours earlier to put pressure on the Springboks to win, and they delivered in typically punchy style.
They didn’t lead until the 44th minute, gradually overwhelming the Pumas with the power of their set-piece.
Taking advantage of the superior muscle up front, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach — eventually named the player of the match — and hooker Malcolm Marx scored two tries each.
The Pumas weren't as close to South Africa as the scoreline suggested. They scored two late converted tries but finished with the wooden spoon for the first time since 2022.
Argentina gave up the scheduled home match to relocate to Twickenham for bigger ticket revenue, and the Springboks felt more at home thanks to expatriates filling an impressive crowd of 70,360. They celebrated the Springboks' sixth title in 30 tournaments and their first back-to-back crowns.
It didn't go to plan at the start.
Center Canan Moodie was yellow-carded in the second minute for head-on-head contact, and moments later Argentina gave right winger Bautista Delguy space and time to bust through Reinach and Ethan Hooker to the try-line.
South Africa's first scrum tighthead was rewarded with a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty.
World Cup winner Ox Nche gave a torrid time to scrum opposite Francisco Coria Marchetti, who debuted in June against the British and Irish Lions and always appeared off the bench until Joel Sclavi was injured on Friday in the captain’s run. That forced the Pumas to start Coria Marchetti, their 10th change to the starting XV that lost to the Springboks 67-30 in Durban last weekend.
Despite Nche being the only change to the Springboks starting XV, they struggled to click at Twickenham. Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the star in Durban, passed over Cheslin Kolbe's head in one of 10 handling errors in the half.
Santiago Carreras' second penalty extended Argentina's lead to 13-3 then Moodie was lucky not to receive a second yellow card and subsequent red when his deliberate knock-on was only penalized.
But South Africa finished the half strong. Lock Eben Etzebeth was held up over the line by Pumas flyhalf Geronimo Prisciantelli but when No. 8 Jasper Wiese lost control of a pushover try attempt, Reinach was too close to the line to be stopped.
The second half started badly for Argentina. Loosehead prop Mayco Vivas was sin-binned for a high tackle, and South Africa drove the subsequent lineout, dishing a 26th test try for Marx.
South Africa finally had the lead and an extra man. RG Snyman took over for Etzebeth, who went to the blood bin, and his pop-up helped Reinach burrow over for his second try and extend the lead to 22-13.
Before the game was an hour old, Marx regained an Argentina lineout tap down from his own throw-in then crashed over for his second try of the match. It also was his 17th in championship history, tying him with Richie McCaw for the most tries by a forward.
When Coria Marchetti injured his right leg, the Pumas finishing props were four-cap Boris Wenger and 20-year-old debutant Tomás Rapetti. They were consoled by Delguy's second try from a wild pass by Kolbe, and fellow wing Rodrigo Isgro scoring after the hooter from a crossfield kick by Santiago Carreras.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Argentina's Bautista Delguy, center, runs to score a try during the Rugby Championship match between Argentina and South Africa at Twickenham stadium, in London, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
South Africa's Cobus Reinach, bottom right, scores a try during the Rugby Championship match between Argentina and South Africa at Twickenham stadium, in London, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
South Africa's Malcolm Marx, center, scores a try during the Rugby Championship match between Argentina and South Africa at Twickenham stadium, in London, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Elected to baseball's Hall of Fame more than 17 years after his final game, Jeff Kent couldn't control his emotions.
“Absolutely unprepared. Emotionally unstable,” he said after Sunday's vote announcement. “Thoughts are so far clouded."
Kent received 14 of 16 votes from the contemporary era committee, two more than the 12 ballots needed for the 75% minimum. Steroids-tainted stars Barry Bond and Roger Clemens were among seven players who fell short once again.
Kent will be inducted in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26 along with anyone chosen by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 20.
“I hugged my wife after the the phone call had come in," Kent said, his voice cracking, “and I told her that a lot of the game had come rushing back to me at that moment. Similar to my retirement speech, my farewell speech that I did in LA, it reminds me of the `no crying in baseball.' Well, I was balling when I left the game because all that emotion just overcomes you.”
A five-time All-Star second baseman, Kent hit .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs over 17 seasons with Toronto (1992), the New York Mets (1992-96), Cleveland (1996), San Francisco (1997-2002), Houston (2003-04) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2005-08).
His 351 home runs as a second baseman are the most by a player at that position. Kent’s most productive seasons were with the Giants, joined in the lineup by the record-setting Bonds.
"I think I’ve turned the double play better than anybody in the game during my era," Kent said.
Carlos Delgado received nine votes, followed by Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy with six each. Bonds, Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes and can't appear on the ballot again until 2031.
Bonds and Clemens also fell short in 2022 in their 10th and final appearances on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains he never used PEDs.
“Barry was a good teammate of mine. He was a guy that I motivated and pushed,” Kent said. “We knocked heads a little bit. He was a guy that motivated me at times, in frustration and love, at times both. ... If you’re talking about moral code and all that, I’m not a voter and I’m trying to stay away from all of that the best I can because I don’t, I really don’t have an opinion.”
Kent's relationship with the Giants became strained when he broke a bone in his left wrist during spring training in 2002. Kent told team athletic trainer Stan Conte he got hurt while washing his truck the previous day but Giants general manager Brian Sabean said three weeks later “there’s mounting evidence from all sorts of eyewitnesses that says he fell off a motorcycle popping wheelies.”
Kent scuffled with Bonds in the dugout that June 25 during a game in San Diego.
Kent received 15.2% in his first BBWAA appearance in 2014 and a high of 46.5% in the last of his 10 times on the ballot in 2023.
“The moments seemed to pass by in not utter disappointment but just disappointment, frustration a little bit that I wasn’t better recognized,” Kent said.
Kent was drafted by Toronto and four months after his debut was traded to the Mets for David Cone, who helped the Blue Jays win the World Series.
“The rap for me probably started out in the wrong direction in New York,” Kent said. “There was this perception when I left New York and came to the West Coast that 'he wasn't a good middle infielder,' and that was so false.”
The Hall in 2022 restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.
Each committee meets every three years. Contemporary managers, executives and umpires will be considered in December 2026, classic era candidates in December 2027 and contemporary era players again in December 2028.
Under a change announced by the Hall last March, candidates who received fewer than five votes are not eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.
The December 2027 vote is the first chance for Pete Rose to appear on a Hall ballot after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred decided in May that Rose’s permanent suspension ended with his death in September 2024. The Hall prohibits anyone on the permanent ineligible list from appearing on a ballot.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - San Francisco Giants Livan Hernandez, left, and Jeff Kent react after the Anaheim Angels Garret Anderson hit a three run RBI double in the third inning during game 7 of the World Series in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 27, 2002. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers Jeff Kent hits a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sept. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
