Argentina scored a huge moral victory by claiming their first Rugby Championship points in a historic 16-all draw with South Africa at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, in Mendoza, on Saturday.

After a 14-match winning streak by the Springboks, the Pumas finally did not lose a match against the South Africans.

While they still don't have a win over the Boks, this was as good as a victory.

With the breakdowns a lottery and plenty of off-the-ball niggle, the Pumas managed to get the Boks out of their structured game and involved in a scrappy arm-wrestle.

The Pumas were certainly more intent on getting involved in a physical contest, using every opportunity to push and shove people around in an attempt to provoke the Boks.

South Africa played into the hands of the home team - instead of staying calm, they became frantic in their approach and as result made a number of errors that handed possession to the Argentineans.

And tactically the home team was also far more astute than the Boks, who had that 'deer in the headlights' look about them.

The most effective attacking weapon of the home team was their well-constructed maul, which the Boks had virtually no answer to except to collapse it illegally.

Francois Steyn, from inside his own half of a field about 10 metres short of the regulation distance, and Martín Rodríguez, from much closer, both missed early penalties.

Rodríguez eventually opened the scoring in the 11th minute, as the Boks were penalised for illegal clearing at a ruck.

Santiago Fernández scored the opening try of the match - coming after the Pumas kept running at the Boks with their physical forwards till the gap opened in the middle of a ruck and the Argentinean centre jogged over almost untouched. Rodriguez made it 10-0 with the conversion.

Right on the half-hour mark the Boks won a rare penalty and for the first time since the second minute they line up at the posts - Morné Steyn wide of the mark on this occasion. However, minutes later Morné Steyn slotted a penalty, for another transgression at the breakdown by the home team, and the Boks were finally on the board - 3-10.

Rodríguez managed to restore the 10-point lead (13-3) when the Boks were penalised for illegal tactics at a maul in the 35th minute.

In the final minute of the first half South Africa finally showed some patience with the ball in hand, but after working their way into the Puma 22 Marcel Coetzee failed to hold onto a pass and a great build-up was wasted.

That allowed the home team to take that lead into the half-time break.

Five minutes into the second half and Francois Steyn had a shot from inside his own half and again he failed to find the target.

Three minutes later the Pumas were again penalised at the breakdown and this time Morné Steyn took aim at the posts from 40 metres out - making no mistake, as the gap closed to 6-13.

Flip van der Merwe, within seconds of coming on for Andries Bekker, conceded a penalty at a line-out. Rodriguez restored the Pumas' 10-point lead - 16-6.

But almost immediately the Pumas conceded another penalty at the ruck and finally this time the referee warned the Argentineans about repeated infringements. Morné Steyn made no mistake - 9-16, with 25 minutes left on the clock.

As the final quarter approached, the Boks lifted the intensity, but their execution remained poor - with a number of promising build-ups ending in knock-ons just inside or outside the Argentinean 22.

With just over 15 minutes left on the clock Santiago Fernández attempted a drop-=goal, which drifted wide to the left.

And moments later Francois Steyn charged down an attempted field clearance, following up and collecting the bouncing ball to score the Boks' first try. Morné Steyn levelled the scores at 16-all with his conversion.

With just under eight minutes left on the clock the Pumas were again penalised at the breakdown - and that earlier warning about repeated infringements seemingly forgotten - Morné Steyn had a shot at goal from 45 metres out, on the angle. This time he hooked it past the upright.

The Pumas now used all manner of tactics, legal and otherwise, to slow down the game and run down the clock.

They succeeded and won a huge moral; victory by holding on for a draw.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Try: Fernández
Con: Rodríguez
Pens: Rodríguez 3

For South Africa:
Try: F Steyn
Con: M Steyn
Pens: M Steyn 3

Teams:

Argentina: 15 Martín Rodríguez, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 7 Álvaro Galindo, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Eusebio Guiñazu, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Bruno Postiglioni, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Leonardo Senatore, 19 Tomás Leonardi, 20 Martín Landajo, 21 Lucas González Amorosino, 22 Juan Imhoff.

South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 François Hougaard, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Pat Lambie, 22 JJ Engelbrecht.

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO: Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)