Time to put it together
Stuttering Boks need to find top form to win in Argentina
TONIGHT’S Rugby Championship clash between the Springboks and Argentina at the Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena in Salta has all the ingredients of a recipe for disaster for the South Africans.
Allister Coetzee’s “new” Boks are still in their infancy as a team, and they were lucky to beat the Pumas 30-23 in Nelspruit last Saturday after a stuttering performance.
South Africa can’t afford to repeat last weekend’s mistakes in Salta because Argentina are an entirely different outfit at home, which the Boks have discovered – to their detriment – on a number of occasions since the start of the Rugby Championship era.
Whereas the Pumas normally play with a passion fuelled by their national anthem and their partisan crowd, the Boks seem to be stuck in second gear when they take the field in the country of T-bone steaks, red wine and Lionel Messi.
Last year in Buenos Aires, the South Africans recorded their biggest margin of victory, 14 points (26-12), against Argentina away from home in the Rugby Championship.
It was a backlash after the shock 25-37 defeat at the hands of the Pumas the previous week in Durban.
Before that, the Boks’ biggest winning margin in Argentina had been by five points in Mendoza in 2013, a year after the teams had played to a 16-16 draw in the same city.
The last time the Boks played in Salta – in 2014 – they needed a last-minute Morne Steyn penalty to clinch a 33-31 victory.
Then there is the man in charge, France’s Jerome Garces, who is not one of South Africa’s favourite referees. Of his previous seven Tests involving the Boks, they have lost four and won three.
So, the chances of an upset are huge, and the stars are aligned for Argentina to register their first win over the men in green and gold on home soil.
Bok captain Adriaan Strauss was certainly under no illusions as to what awaited his troops. The Pumas are more than just a threat – they have some serious bite.
“The Argentinians have been a semi-finalist in Rugby World Cups, so they are a rugby force and not a nation that is building. They need to be respected,” Strauss said.
“This is a massive Test match for both teams in their backyard. We know they are a passionate nation, and they will come with backlash as well following the defeat in Nelspruit.”
But today’s encounter could be the match when Coetzee’s men finally deliver a convincing 80-minute display.
There have been glimpses of their new attacking game coming together, and their opening and final tries at Mbombela Stadium last Saturday were clinically finished thanks to some quick thinking and swift handling.
But there were also too many unforced errors and plenty of examples of poor execution and decision-making.
If the Boks can do the basics well and execute their plans efficiently, they should have no problem dealing with the Pumas – no matter where in the world they play.
“To be honest, we just need to be better in everything we do and lift the standards even more,” Strauss said.
“We have to make the step up because there were a few areas in the game where we were very disappointing. We have high standards and we want to fix things.”