Assistant coach Deon Davids has warned the Springboks to expect a tougher test from a fired-up Argentina outfit in front of their passionate home crowd on Saturday.
The dust has settled on the Rugby Championship, with the Boks finishing in second place after home wins over Australia and Argentina in between a loss to the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Saturday will see the World Cup warm-up matches start in earnest as most of the top-tier nations will be in action against each other, and South Africa will tackle Argentina in Buenos Aires, after holding on for a one-point victory over Los Pumas at Ellis Park.
The South Africans were made to sweat against Los Pumas last weekend, after taking a 15-9 lead into the break following a dominant first-half performance.
The scrappy match was littered with stoppages as a result of handling errors and injuries, and the Argentinians came back firing in the second half, putting the world champions under heaps of pressure and requiring them to put in a spartan shift on defence to win.
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The Boks have arrived in Buenos Aires, where a circumspect Davids said there were positives they would take from last week’s game: “In general, it was a very competitive match against the Pumas, and I take my hat off to them for giving everything and trying to get a positive result.
“But for us from a preparation point of view we could not have asked for a better match. The players from both teams tested each other individually and tactically, and we had to play for the full 80 minutes just as we had to against New Zealand.
“It was an excellent test and it’s exactly what the team needed to prepare for the Rugby World Cup.”
The Boks have taken just 10 players from the Rugby Championship finale to Argentina, while the other 16 will get a big opportunity to make an impression in the final match before the World Cup squad announcement.
Davids added: “We’re expecting an even tougher match in Buenos Aires, and we anticipate that it will be a hard-fought match until the final whistle.
“We’re facing a passionate Argentinean team that believes they could have won the last match in front of a crowd that backs them all the way.
“We’ve been here before and it is never easy, so it will be a challenge for the players and the team to perform under pressure, and we are excited about that.”
Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
