A win by Argentina would ensure victories against all three of the so-called southern hemisphere powers during this year’s Rugby Championship.
Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids says the team are preparing to face the usual suspects and aren’t expecting any surprises when they battle it out against Argentina in their important Rugby Championship match in Santiago on Saturday (11pm).
The Boks are gunning for a win to seal the Rugby Championship title with a game to spare, while Argentina are hoping to win, while denying the visitors any losing bonus points, to realistically keep the competition alive going into the final game in Mbombela next weekend.
Davids on Monday highlighted the skills of their former star player and now coach Felipe Contepomi, as well as the number of grizzled veterans in their lineup who will all be fired up to complete a treble of wins over their Southern Hemisphere challengers (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) this season.
“They are a well coached team, with a local coach (in Contepomi), and they’ve got the old, usual customers who are very tough up front … the Kremers, Materas, and Montoyas, so we expect a good challenge in the set pieces,” said Davids.
“Then they have backs who are fast and talented, many of whom come out of their Sevens structures, so we’ll be facing a balanced and settled team.
“That said, the important thing for us will be to stick to our plans and structures and be ready for any challenges they throw at us on the day.”
Interesting match 23
The Boks have left seven star players at home to rest ahead of the final game in Mbombela next Saturday, and could name a number of exciting up and coming youngsters in their match 23, as well as a few players who have not received as much game time this season.
Bok boss Rassie Erasmus is set to name his lineup around 8pm on Tuesday.
Players such as Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels could be in line to receive more valuable game time as they integrate into the Bok set-up, while Canan Moodie should earn his second start of the season and Jaden Hendrikse his first start, after both recently returned from injury.
Manie Libbok should also be in line for a start, having barely played this season with the Boks backing Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Handre Pollard.
But whoever they name in their matchday-23 Davids is confident they will do the job, saying: “We always put a team on the field that we believe in and can beat any team.
“These players have some Test experience and we are confident they will give a good account of themselves.”
