Elton has a big question mark hanging over his head

UNDER-FIRE Springbok coach Allister Coetzee will have to find a new right wing for the rest of the Rugby Championship and he might also be without Elton Jantjies after his team’s disappointing showing against Argentina in Salta on Saturday.

A year on from crashing to defeat against Los Pumas for the first time, in Durban, the Boks on Saturday lost for the first time in Argentina, this time going down 26-24 to the Rugby Championship’s newest team.

The defeat, which leaves the Boks with one win and one defeat after the first series of matches, ahead of this weekend’s bye, comes just a week after Coetzee’s team escaped with a narrow win in Nelspruit, against the same opposition.

This time, though, the Boks were well beaten, had no late flurry and had to accept that they were not the best team on the field.

Compounding the Boks’ problems – and there are many – is wing Ruan Combrinck’s leg injury (broken fibula) which will see him miss the rest of the competition, while the form of several players is simply not at the standard required to compete at Test level.

And, it seems, Coetzee will have no choice but to make changes for the trip Down Under.

The Boks arrive back in South Africa today and head to Australia on Thursday.

Front of the queue with a question mark hanging over his head is Jantjies, while Morné Steyn, too, may now finally have said goodbye after both men failed to live up to their star status in Salta.

Lions star Jantjies, was erratic in his general play and was not the commanding figure one expects of an international standard No 10, but where he let himself and the team down was in the kicking department. He missed two penalties which would have helped the Boks build scoreboard pressure, while Steyn, who replaced Jantjies in the second half and was picked mainly for his accurate goal-kicking, also missed with two shots at goal as well as a drop-goal.

Jantjies is nursing a groin injury and will undergo a scan to determine the severity of the problem, which may result in him missing out on the trip to Australia and New Zealand. But the Bok No 10’s form – he also missed two penalties in Durban last week – will be of concern to Coetzee and Springbok rugby fans.

“We had opportunities to build scoreboard pressure, we had penalties, and didn’t take them,” said Coetzee afterwards.

Coetzee may have been referring to Jantjies and Steyn, but also someone like Damian de Allende, who got close to crossing the tryline but coughed up possession. “When you get close to the tryline you’ve got to finish... we didn’t do that. They put us under pressure and they took their opportunities better than we did.

“I’m very disappointed... we made some crucial mistakes, individual mistakes, but if there is a positive it’s that we came back in the second half (after being 13-3 down at halftime).”

Captain Adriaan Strauss also blamed individual errors for costing the Boks the game. “We made errors and that resulted in us being unable to build phases. We had no rhythm to our game so we’re certainly going to have to have a hard look at ourselves.”

Wing Combrinck will be out of action for six weeks.

The Bok squad for the trip Down Under, for fixtures against Australia on September 10 in Brisbane and New Zealand on September 17 in Christchurch, will be named tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Sanzaar confirmed that, after the match, Bok flank Teboho Mohoje was issued with a Citing Commissioner Warning for a dangerous tackle.

Mohoje will not face a hearing or receive any punishment.