Boks wary of fiery Pumas
We are ready for tough battle up front, says Etzebeth
STRONGMAN Eben Etzebeth says the Springboks will not fall into the trap of allowing experienced Argentine captain Agustín Creevy to unsettle them in the opening match of the Rugby Championship today. Etzebeth, the lock enforcer and leader of the Bok team, was reacting to questions on possible Argentine tactics ahead of the Port Elizabeth showdown. “Beast Matawarira has 90 caps and I think he is pretty experienced and I have over 50. So he [Creevy] can try it, but we will just stick to what we know and I don’t think we will allow one guy to unsettle us too match,” Etzebeth said. In a high stakes clash, cool heads will be needed in the heat of battle against an Argentine outfit who are masters of the unexpected and like to make quick decisions to try and catch the opposition by surprise. Etzebeth knows the Boks can take a colossal step towards exorcising the ghosts of 2016 by beating a menacing Pumas side in front of an expected 46 000 sellout crowd at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today. Putting pride back in the Springbok jersey is one of coach Allister Coetzee’s main priorities after a woeful campaign which saw his team win only four of their 12 matches last year. One of those nightmare defeats came against Argentina, who shocked the Boks 26-24 in Salta last year. Some of the pain of that poor run of results, which also included a shock loss to Italy, was erased earlier this year when South Africa scored a thumping 3-0 series win over France in June. But, with all due respect to the French team, today’s showdown will provide a much clearer indication of how far South Africa progressed down redemption road.
The Boks have left nothing to chance this time, arriving in Port Elizabeth almost two weeks ahead of the clash which could define how they fare in world rugby’s toughest competition.
“We all know that Argentina are a physical and good side but we just want to focus on our things. The team is really looking forward to the start of the Rugby Championship,” Etzebeth said.
“Against Argentina there is always a big battle between the forwards. They have a good tight five and good loose trio, so us forwards will be up for it.
“After the June series against France, the real challenge is now for us in the Rugby Championship. I think as a team we were quite happy with what we did against France.
“As a rugby team you always basically want to improve in every aspect.
“We have worked hard and hopefully we can be better in the championship and gel,” Etzebeth added.
“The Rugby Championship comes with new challenges. It is a difficult and tough competition,” Coetzee said.
“We want to build on the momentum built in June and piggy-back on that. We must ensure that we build on what we achieved against the French and make sure we are even better in the Rugby Championship.”
Springbok scrum coach Matt Proudfoot says South Africa must not confuse the Argentine national team with the Jaguares side that plays Super Rugby.
“We must not be under any illusion that this is the same side that plays Super Rugby. When they put on that white and blue jersey they have a lot of pride. You can see the way they sing the anthem that it matters to them to wear that jersey as it does to our guys to wear our jersey.
“Argentina look to really turn the ball over and then unleash a potent counter-attack, and we are well aware of that,” Proudfoot said.
“We have done a lot of preparation as we were caught out a bit against them in Salta last year with their aerial game. So that is one of the areas we have been focusing on,” Etzebeth said.
Pumas head coach Daniel Hourcade has made three changes to the line-up that beat Georgia in his team’s last outing during June.
Emiliano Boffelli comes in for Matias Moroni on the wing, Tomas Lavanini replaces Matias Alemanno at lock and Pablo Matera gets in ahead of Rodrigo Baez on the blindside flank for the Rugby Championship opener.