The Springboks will resume their Rugby Championship defence at home to Argentina on Saturday at Durban’s Kings Park Stadium, with everything still up for grabs.
After four matchdays, all four teams in the tournament are deadlocked at two wins apiece. The Wallabies top the standings with 11 points, while South Africa and New Zealand each have 10 and Los Pumas have nine.
The Springboks’ campaign was hanging by a thread after one win out of two at home to the Wallabies and a 24-17 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park. With their backs to the wall, they picked up a memorable 43-10 win in the rematch against New Zealand in Wellington, spurred by a superb second half.
Rassie Erasmus has retained largely the same lineup from the win over the All Blacks. However, Eben Etzebeth and Damian Willemse are in for the injured Lood de Jager and Aphelele Fassi.
The Springboks are favourites to pick up a win on home soil before travelling to London for the final round in Twickenham. However, Erasmus is taking nothing for granted.
“This is a vital match for both us and the Pumas, and if one takes into consideration that they beat New Zealand and Australia in the first four rounds of the competition, as well as the British & Irish Lions earlier in the season, there’s no doubt we’ll treat them the respect they deserve,” said the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning director of rugby – who is currently doubling up as the Springboks’ head coach.
“They’ve made big strides in the last few seasons, and have an astute coach in Felipe Contepomi, so we know they are going to throw everything at us. Adding to that, they boast a strong forward pack and extremely talented backs, so they pose threats all around.”
Key details:
Date: Saturday, September 27 at 5:10PM CAT (3:10 PM GMT)
Venue: Kings Park Stadium, Durban, South Africa
How to watch: The match is available on SuperSport
Team News:
Erasmus has opted for a 5-3 split on the bench. Despite his outstanding performance against the All Blacks, Manie Libbok remains a substitute, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu preferred at flyhalf.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu suffered a knock to the head in the Wellington win, leading to Libbok coming off the bench in the 20th minute and bossing proceedings thereafter.
Erasmus was happy with the performance of both flyhalves in the dominant victory and opted not to tinker much with his lineup. He hinted that he could, at some stage in the match, accommodate both players – with Feinberg-Mngomezulu moving to fullback and Willemse to inside centre.
“Let’s hope it works out so that we can experiment a little bit, but with a lot of respect to Argentina at the same time,” Erasmus said.
Springboks: Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe, Canan Moodie, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche
Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Morne van den Berg, Manie Libbok, Andre Esterhuizen
Argentina: TBC
Stats:
The teams have faced each other three times in Durban. The first encounter between the two there saw Argentina win 37-25 to beat the Springboks for the first time in 2015, with the hosts winning the other two.
South Africa and Argentina have played each other 38 times overall, with the Springboks winning 33, Argentina winning four and one finishing in a draw.
