PREVIEW: Boks beware as unpredictable tag now fits Pumas

After the two games against the All Blacks, the Springboks would not be blamed if the two clashes with Argentina that will conclude the Castle Lager Rugby Championship could feel a bit like the feeling encapsulated by the words “after the Lord Mayor’s show”.

If you look it up on Google the origins of the phrase it is attributed to the proverb “After the Lord Mayor’s show comes the dust-cart” and it is said of “a disappointing or mundane event occurring straight after an exciting, magnificent or triumphal event”.

It was a phrase used by cricket writers to describe the sense of anti-climax in the rest of the South African innings after the legendary South African batsman Graeme Pollock’s then record 274 against Australia at Kingsmead in 1970. It would have been an apt description of the atmosphere following some of the genius batting displays of a more recent Proteas star, AB de Villiers.

Somehow when the All Blacks are in town, the blood flow feels likes it quickens. When the battle is done, and in the most recent case won, you feel a sense of emotional exhaustion. And we’re not talking about the players here, but about the supporters and even the rugby media. New Zealand versus South Africa is the biggest show in the sport of rugby, and after it is over it is hard to replicate the intensity and the interest.

PROXIMITY TO TUCUMAN MAY BE APT

A full house is expected at Nelspruit next week for the final game in this year’s Championship, and at home the wave of support and atmosphere for the two time world champions will be galvanising and inspiring. The danger comes on Saturday night, where any feeling that it is “after the lord mayor’s show” could be punished in the Estadio Unico Madre de Cludades in Santiago del Estero that the Boks will be experiencing for the first time in their history.

It may be apt that the city they are playing in is not far from Tucuman, the scene of one of the most brutal games contested by the Boks in the post-isolation era. Those who were there on that night in 1993 will tell you about how intimidating the mood of the roused up local supporters became not just for the South African players on the field but for those South Africans in the stands.

There won’t be a repeat of the Battle of Tucuman on the field. Rugby has become far too sanitised for anything remotely like that to happen again and if it did the denizens of World Rugby would die of a collective heart attack. But what we could see is a repeat of the buzz generated on the terraces if the Pumas get off to a good start and, this being the key aspect, their attempts to repeat the helter-skelter of their big win over the Wallabies last time out leads to passes sticking.

Under a new coach in Felipe Contemponi and with a different stated mission to his predecessors, Argentina have become a lot less predictable than they were. It used to be said that the Pumas were like the French used to be, in other words capable of exploding a game open with their flair, flash and Latin temperament. When Hugo Porta was their captain and flyhalf, that was always possible.

But for much of their recent history that reputation of being unpredictably dangerous, much like the more recent editions of the French team before the current era of strength started, has been based on erroneous perception. The Pumas for a long time were a bit of a mini-South Africa: They liked the physical aspects of the game, they could get sucked easily into a testosterone driven battle. They were just weren’t as good at it as the Boks, and often blew opportunities through indiscipline.

SHADES OF FRANCE IN THE RIVES ERA

Now, based on the evidence of their purple patch against Australia, where they overturned a 17 point deficit to win by 40, plus stages of their win over the All Blacks in Wellington, where they scored some good tries in a game where there were hardly any scrums, it is different. They do have aspects of the French about them, meaning the unpredictability, and we are talking France circa late 1970s and early 1980s. Think Jean-Pierre Rives and his lot.

Of course, they could also just not pitch, as was the case when the All Blacks so comprehensively avenged at Eden Park their ignominious defeat in Wellington seven days earlier. But then isn’t that the very definition of the word unpredictable? If they played like they did in Wellington in every game they wouldn’t be unpredictable, they’d be consistent. They wouldn’t be dangerous, they’d be dominant.

That last word of course being what the Boks are becoming, and Salmaan Moerat’s team would surely have taken their cue from what happened to the Pumas in Auckland - they were thumped at forward, particularly in the scrums, and just weren’t allowed into the game.

It is very different though playing a game in front of several thousand Kiwis at their fortress than playing in front of thousands of Argentinians emboldened and enthused by what happened the last time the Pumas played. So the Boks are going to have to be on point from the start of this game, and try their best to keep the crowd out of it by just not letting Argentina into the game.

COMPETITION FOR PLACES GUARANTEES EDGE

That was what happened when they wrapped up the 2019 Rugby Championship, their only previous taste of the southern hemisphere title in its current guise, and they will be looking to do it again. And fortunately for South African fans, among the many positives of coach Rassie Erasmus’ much spoken about selection policy is that it keeps every player on his toes.

In other words, there won’t be any “after the lord mayor’s show” feeling among a group of players who are all fighting to be recognised worthy of frontline recognition, from skipper Moerat through to fullback Aphelele Fassi, through 2019 World Cup winners Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi to replacement hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Coupled with that is what is at stake - the smart money would be on the Boks winning the Championship regardless of what happens on Saturday, for if they lose now they will surely set that right in Nelspruit, but the players playing in Santiago will want to be the ones that clinched the trophy.

Their superiority at forward, where the fact the Argentina players are no longer coming to South Africa regularly as they used to when the Jaguares played in Super Rugby might prove a benefit for the Boks, should ensure the necessary win and turn next week into an inauguration party rather than a championship decider.

But it is not a cop out or a fence sitting exercise to repeat the implicit caveat to everything else that has been said - the Pumas under their new coach are more of an unknown factor than they were and are more like the French team of old than they have been for several decades.

TEAMS

Argentina: Juan-Cruz Mallia, Bautista Delguy, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras, Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Bertranou, Joaquin Oviedo, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Pedro Rubiolo, Franco Molina, Joel Sclavi, Julian Montoya, Tomas Gallo.

Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Ignacio Calles, Pedro Delgado, Guido Petti, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Gonzalo Garcia, Santiago Carreras, Matias Moroni.

South Africa: Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Ben-Jason Dixon, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Salmaan Moerat (captain), Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche.

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Jaden Hendrikse, Manie Libbok.

Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)

Kick-off: 23.00

Prediction: Springboks to win by 8