The Springboks will want to avoid any missteps when they lock up in a dance of ice and fire with Los Pumas in Buenos Aires on Saturday night (21:10 kick-off), writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.
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The one-off Test is the final hit-out for the double world champions, who kicked off their season with an 80-31 thrashing of the Barbarians and by sweeping their three home Nations Championship fixtures against England (45-21), Scotland (42-28) and Wales (43-0), ahead of the inaugural four-Test Greatest Rugby Rivalry series against the All Blacks.
As he’s done for the Rugby Championship in the past, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has taken a split-squad approach with a 26-man group making the business trip to Argentina, while the rest of the squad have remained in Johannesburg to prepare for the opening clash against the Kiwis at Ellis Park on Saturday, 22 August.
The match 23 for Saturday’s showdown at Estadio Jose Amalfitani features several players returning from injury and others who have had a lighter workload; therein lies the challenge for Erasmus and his troops this week.
With many players taken out of the freezer and thrown straight into the fire that is Test rugby, there’s the risk of a meltdown brought about by a slow start. The 35-20 defeat to the All Blacks in Auckland in 2023 comes to mind, where a Bok team with several rusty Japan-based players effectively lost the game in the first quarter.
Granted, Los Pumas aren’t the All Blacks, but they have lethal players in their own right who could strike if the South Africans are a step off the pace early, and the notoriously Partisan crowd would complicate matters further for the world’s number-one-ranked team.
Seventh-ranked Argentina have just the one win, a 38-21 triumph over Wales, sandwiched in between losses to Scotland (47-38) and England (31-24) this season, but can be quite unpredictable.
That’s true this time, as well, as there’s expected to be some fresh faces with captain Julian Montoya, Tomas Albornoz, Juan Cruz Mallia, Thomas Gallo, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Pedro Rubiolo, Joaquin Oviedo, Gonzalo Garcia, Justo Piccardo and Bautista Delguy all unavailable.
Erasmus insists that the Boks won’t take Los Pumas lightly or overlook them and admits his team will have to start strong.
“The Argentineans are very similar to South Africans in many ways. Their passion and patriotism for their country and people, and the way they give everything on the field and keep fighting is a testament to the type of Test match we are expecting this weekend,” he said earlier this week.
“They have beaten us twice in Argentina before and they delivered brave performances in their Nations Championship matches, and will have a point to prove on Saturday, so we are fully aware of the challenge ahead.
“They are a quality team with players who play in several different competitions and countries, and they are well coached under the guidance of Felipe Contepomi, so we have to be sharp from the outset, accurate in our execution, and convert the chances we create into points if we want to get the desired result.
“They have a strong forward pack and dangerous backs, and they will have a very passionate crowd behind them, so we will have to be at our best to win this match.
“We’ve had to grind out results against them on several occasions in the past, so it will take a proper 80-minute effort this weekend, and we are looking forward to the challenge,” he added.
The Boks have class and, crucially, experience on their side, and it’s that experience of lessons learned and structural familiarity forged that should see them return to the Republic with a convincing victory.
Prediction: South Africa by 18.
Suggested Bet: South Africa -17.5 at 1.87.
Quintin van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 20 years of experience.
