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)
President Donald Trump has publicly called it quits with one of his most stalwart MAGA-world supporters, calling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “'Wacky' Marjorie” and saying he would endorse a challenger against her in next year's midterms “if the right person runs.”
The dismissal of Greene — once the epitome of MAGA, sporting the signature red cap for President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address and acting as a go-between for Trump and other Capitol Hill Republicans — appeared to be the final break in a dispute simmering for months, as Greene has seemingly moderated her political profile. The three-term U.S. House member has increasingly dissented from Republican leaders, attacking them during the just-ended federal government shutdown and saying they need a plan to help people who are losing subsidies to afford health insurance policies.
Accusing the Georgia Republican of going “Far Left,” Trump wrote that all he had witnessed from Greene in recent months is “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” adding, of Greene's purported irritation that he doesn't return her phone calls, “I can't take a ranting Lunatic's call every day.”
In a response on X, Greene wrote Friday that Trump had “attacked me and lied about me." She added a screenshot of a text she said she had sent the president earlier in the day about releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which she said “is what sent him over the edge.”
Greene called it “astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” referencing next week’s U.S. House vote over releasing the Epstein files.
Writing that she had supported Trump “with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” Greene added: “I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.”
Trump's post seemingly tied a bow of finality to fissures that widened following this month's off-cycle elections, in which voters in the New Jersey and Virginia governor races flocked to Democrats in large part over concerns about the cost of living.
Last week, Greene told NBC News that “watching the foreign leaders come to the White House through a revolving door is not helping Americans,” saying that Trump needs to focus on high prices at home rather than his recent emphasis on foreign affairs. Trump responded by saying that Greene had “lost her way.”
Asked about Greene’s comments earlier Friday as he flew from Washington to Florida, Trump said reiterated that he felt “something happened to her over the last month or two,” saying that, if he hadn’t gone to China to meet leader Xi Jinping, there would have been negative ramifications for jobs in Georgia and elsewhere because China would have kept its curbs on magnet exports.
Saying that people have been calling him, wanting to challenge Greene, Trump added: “She’s lost a wonderful conservative reputation.”
Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win. In June, she publicly sided with Tucker Carlson after Trump called the commentator “kooky” in a schism that emerged between MAGA and national security hardliners over possible U.S. efforts at regime change in Iran.
That only intensified in July, when Greene said she wouldn’t run for governor. Then, she attacked a political “good ole boy” system, alleging it was endangering Republican control of the state. Greene embarked on a charm offensive in recent weeks, with interviews and appearances in media aimed at people who aren’t hardcore Trump supporters. Asked on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast if she wanted to run for president in 2028, Greene said in October, “I hate politics so much” and just wanted “to fix problems” — but didn’t give a definitive answer.
That climaxed with an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time,” followed days later by a Nov. 4 appearance on ABC's “The View.” Some observers began pronouncing Greene as reasonable as she trashed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana for not calling Republicans back to Washington and coming up with a health care plan.
“I feel like I’m sitting next to a completely different Marjorie Taylor Greene,” said “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin.
“Maybe you should become a Democrat, Marjorie,” said co-host Joy Behar.
“I’m not a Democrat,” Greene replied. “I think both parties have failed.”
Jeff Amy contributed reporting from Atlanta. Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
FILE - Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., presides over a House Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)
