Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids said that the Springboks are bracing themselves for a physical onslaught from Argentina in their third and final Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday in what could be the deciding match of the competition.
Should the Wallabies defeat the All Blacks in Melbourne earlier on Saturday, the Springboks will be in with a fighting chance to win the title if they defeat the Pumas. If things play out this way, Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and his charges will know the exact permutations when they take the field as the other encounter kicks off at 11h45 (SA time).
Both the Springboks and Pumas pride themselves on their physicality and power, and Davids said on Monday this would make for a challenging encounter.
“Argentina are a team that plays with a lot of pride, and they don’t go away,” said Davids.
“They fought until the end against Australia and earned the win, and against New Zealand, they started slowly, but went on to win the second half. So, it’s going to be a grind from the start, but we have to be accurate and play in the right areas of the field.”
Zooming in on their strengths, Davids said: “They have a massive set piece, and they have extreme speedsters in the backline, so if you concede possession against them it could count against you.”
Malherbe also spoke highly of the visitors and their forward pack, saying: “They are a physical side that keep playing for the full 80 minutes. They also have a big scrummaging culture, so we have to be ready for that.”
Davids said the Boks had had a hard look at themselves after their 35-20 defeat against the All Blacks in Auckland and that they were determined to bounce back strongly this weekend.
“We had a thorough look at our performance against New Zealand and we need to be better across the board, that will be our main drive going into this match,” said Davids.
“We have a quality squad, and we believe in the players. I don’t think a team can become poor after one performance. Looking forward, we believe we have the right plans in place, and we know what we want to achieve.”
With Nienaber set to name his squad for the match on Tuesday, Davids said they had a two-pronged approach to team selection for their remaining matches in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup.
“We’ll select a team we believe can get a positive result against Argentina, as we do each time we select a team,” said Davids. “But we’ll also look at building match fitness, and that will remain part of our strategy as we progress to the World Cup.”