The importance to the Springboks of taking some momentum from the warm-up phase into a Rugby World Cup is well illustrated by looking back at the three previous times this country has won the Holy Grail of the international game.
In 1995 Francois Pienaar’s team scored a thumping win over what was then West Samoa in Johannesburg a month out from the tournament, and that followed on from a successful end of year tour. In 2007 John Smit’s team rounded off their preparations with a good win over Scotland in Edinburgh, while Siya Kolisi’s men buried the Japan ghost two weeks ahead of the 2019 kick-off.
The Boks may have made it harder for themselves this year by their choice of opponents for warmup fixtures. No team goes into a game against New Zealand, be it in Auckland or at Twickenham, where the 25 August clash will be played, completely sure of victory. And Wales, who they play a week earlier, have a fair recent record against the Boks in Cardiff.
So there is a possibility that the Boks could go into the World Cup off a losing streak, which intensifies the need for the players selected for Saturday’s return clash with Argentina in Buenos Aires to hit their straps and pull off a positive result. That is quite apart from the personal ambitions that will be forwarded by the individuals in what looks like an experimental team.
DEFINITELY NO COMPLACENCY
One thing can be certain after last week’s narrow win over the same opponents in the final game of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship - no-one will be expecting it to be easy at the Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, there shouldn’t be any complacency from the World Cup champions, and there may even be some half expecting Argentina to win.
That latter expectation would be made even more understandable by the selections for this game. While Pumas coach Michael Cheika continues to experiment, he has again limited his changes to five. That includes an enforced change at fullback where Martin Bogardo comes in for Juan Cruz Mallia, who was cited for what the officials at the game regarded as “a rugby incident” in Johannesburg last weekend.
The Boks by contrast continue to ring wholesale changes. There were nine after each of the first few games, there are 13 this week. Coach Jacques Nienaber says he will settle his selections and return to the continuity mantra for the next game against Wales at the Principality Stadium, but for now the benefit that comes with the motivation players have in playing for places is counterbalanced by the negatives that may come with not having settled combinations.
Couple that with the fact that the Boks are playing in Buenos Aires, where the Pumas will have the extra motivation of wanting to celebrate veteran former captain Augustin Crevy’s landmark 100th cap in fitting style, and suddenly this game looks quite challenging. In the corresponding game of the last World Cup cycle the Boks scraped home at Loftus, while ahead of the World Cup in England in 2015 they scored a workmanlike victory in Argentina that only partially atoned for an upset defeat at Kings Park the week before.
EXPERIMENTAL TEAM BUT NONETHELESS A GOOD ONE
But while it is a tough task that awaits the Boks against a more settled team and also arguably one that might be closer to full strength than they are, it is by no means an impossible one. The Boks have players playing for them that were good in the opener against the Wallabies a month ago, including flyhalf Manie Libbok, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, lock Jean Kleyn and the formidable inside centre Andre Esterhuizen. Damian Willemse slots into arguably his best position of fullback and may display more warrior instinct than Willie le Roux, who though worth his weight in gold on attack sometimes gives the impression that someone has shouted the words “open the gates” when he is asked to tackle.
Willemse will almost certainly be part of every match day squad in the big games at the World Cup because of his utility value, but in this game he has the chance to show that he might just be a good option to start in the No 15.
Lood de Jager was initially chosen for this game but then ruled out because he was unwell and that’s a pity because he did show rust against the All Blacks, but Makazole Mapimpi, who also wasn’t that great in Auckland, gets an opportunity to rediscover the groove that made him a key member of the World Cup winning team of four years ago.
The additional changes to the Pumas starting team for Saturday see Pedro Rubiolo (lock), Gonzalo Bertanou (scrumhalf), Santiago Cordero (left wing) and Emiliano Boffeli (right wing) come in, with Rubiolo making his first start after four appearances in the jersey. Cordero wins his 50th cap but he hasn’t played an international game since September last year.
Teams
Argentina: Martin Bogado, Emiliano Boffelli, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Santiago Cordero, Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Santiago Grondona, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Pedro Rubiolo, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Julian Montoya (captain), Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: Agustin Creevy, Joel Sclavi, Eduardo Bello, Guido Petti, Facundo Isa, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Tomas Albornoz, Matias Moroni.
South Africa: Damian Willemse, Canan Moodie, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi, Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Deon Fourie, Marvin Orie, Jean Kleyn, Thomas du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi (captain), Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Jean-Luc du Preez, Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies, Jesse Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Referee:Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Kick-off: 21.10 SA time.
Prediction: Boks to scrape it again