Boks look to place seal on successful home season

Had you suggested to anyone just after the Springboks had won the World Cup final that their reign as champions would start with a six test home season more than a year and a half later you’d have been laughed out of the room.

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Were you to add in that the return to rugby and the start to the Bok reign as champions would feature five consecutive weeks of test matches against the British and Irish Lions and the Argentina Pumas and that they’d end that sequence of matches having been successful, you’d be looked at even more askance. Surely you can’t expect to go through a 20 month hiatus from international rugby and then beat the Lions and follow up with beating the Pumas?

Yet that is what the Boks will have done should they end this starting phase to their international season by beating the Pumas in their return Castle Lager Rugby Championship test at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday. Should they follow up last week’s resounding win with another positive result, they would have ended the sequence with a record that reads played 6, won 5 and lost 1 - and Lions series champions to boot.

You could also add in that a strong platform would have been laid for a successful challenge to the Rugby Championship title they won before heading to the World Cup nearly two years ago. For that is what it would amount to if the Boks get over the line against Julian Montoya’s men on Saturday.

A LOT OF CURVE BALLS

Of course the Covid pandemic has thrown a lot of curve balls at rugby, both as a sport and the individuals and various teams. Just as the Boks surrendered much of their home advantage when the venues for the Lions games were closed to spectators and limited to a coastal hub, so the Pumas have suffered for having to play what should have been their home fixture against the Boks in South Africa.

It hardly seems fair, but then the dice is weighted against the Boks too after this. A potentially taxing trip, which will include demanding Covid protocols and a lengthy quarantine period, awaits the Boks as they head to Australasia next week to play four games against their traditional tournament rivals of the past 26 years, Australia and New Zealand.

There have been reports that the Australasian games could be switched to Europe, and that would even up the battle considerably, with all matches being played in front of fans at neutral venues. But as it stands the tournament is still scheduled to take place at yet to be confirmed venues in the Antipodes.

Either way the Boks will want to end what has been a successful first phase to their reign as world champions in style while also further adding to the depth they need going forward. In that regard Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg gets a chance to put up his hand as he makes his debut off the bench and Jaden Hendrikse, who will be alongside him among the replacements, has had a chance to think things over after his hurried inclusion last week and will be looking to impress when he comes onto the field.

Marvin Orie gets his first starting opportunity in the second row and will also be wanting to show that he is a player that the Boks can rely on in the build-up to the 2023 World Cup in France, while Thomas du Toit is being rewarded for the mountain of work he apparently gets through in helping the starting players prepare for games. That is something that was started for him in Japan in 2019, where he was part of the World Cup squad as a replacement.

Malcolm Marx also gets what for him has become a rare starting opportunity, and ditto Trevor Nyakane, with the back-up front row that is sitting on the bench - Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe - all boasting at least 40 caps to their name. The accumulation of caps, and hence experience, has become important to coach Jacques Nienaber.

PUMAS MAKE CHANGES AND BEEF UP PACK

While the Boks have pretty much their strongest team out with the exception of a few positions up front, the Pumas have confused the situation this week by making a mountain of changes. Only the midfield pairing, front row and two of the three loose-forwards are in the same position as they were last week. Apart from the two midfielders, Santiago Chocobares and Jeronimo de la Fuente, the entire backline is different from last weekend, with Santiago Carreras moving from fullback to left wing, while Bautista Delguy, Matias Moroni (injured), Nicolas Sanchez and Felipe Ezcurra drop out of the starting team.

They are replaced by Juan Cruz Mallía at fullback, the uncapped Ignacio Mendy at right wing, Domingo Miotti at flyhalf, and Gonzalo Bertranou at scrumhalf. Sanchez and Ezcurra are on the bench this week.

An interesting selection is that of Guido Petti, who is normally a lock and played there last week, as a flank. That’s an indication that the Pumas are looking to beef up the forwards, thus identifying where one of their weak points was last week. By changing around the back three they have also telegraphed an intention to improve their aerial game, something that goes without saying after the disaster of last week.

DIFFERENT BOK TEAM MEANS DIFFERENT CHALLENGE

You would expect them to be better in those areas where they were exposed in the first game, but then they are also up against a different Bok team with perhaps different strengths in some areas and small stylistic differences in key positions. So it is not entirely just a case of replaying the video of last weeks’s game and sorting out their problems based on that analysis either.

Stopping Cheslin Kolbe for instance is a completely different proposition to stopping any other Springbok, indeed perhaps stopping any other player in world rugby. Just ask the Lions and some of his club opponents in Europe. Willie le Roux brings a different dynamic from fullback and Handre Pollard is a very different kind of flyhalf to Elton Jantjies.

So the changes on both sides add interest, and it should be noted that two of the newcomers in the Pumas side were part of the Argentina side that ended the Blitzboks’ quest for an Olympic medal. If that seems a bad omen though for the Boks it shouldn’t be - for a long time the Blitzboks were the flagship of SA rugby, but that has changed.

Just like the main thing has become the main thing within the Bok camp in the Rassie Erasmus era, so the main team in SA Rugby has become the main team. Only complacency can trip them up at this hurdle and one suspects they have become far too professional now to let that happen.

SOUTH AFRICA: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard (vice-captain); Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi (captain), Lood de Jager, Marvin Orie, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Trevor Nyakane. Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Nicolaas van Rensburg, Kwagga Smith, Dan du Preez, Jaden Hendrikse, Damian Willemse.

ARGENTINA: Juan Cruz Mallía; Ignacio Mendy, Santiago Chocobares, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Santiago Carreras; Domingo Miotti, Gonzalo Bertranou, Rodrigo Bruni, Guido Petti, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno; Francisco Gomez Kodela, Julian Montoya (captain), Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro. Replacements: Facundo Bosch, Facundo Gigena, Santiago Medrano, Marcos Kremer, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Felipe Ezcurra, Nicolas Sanchez, Lucio Cinti.

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

Kick-off: 17.05

Prediction: Boks by 15

TV: Supersport Grandstand and Rugby