It’s the second game of Round 1 of the Rugby Championship when the Springboks host Argentina at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Sunday morning. Join The Roar for live scores from the match, starting from 1:05am AEST.
On paper, and according to every betting market in the country, South Africa will win this game in a canter.
A settled national outfit seems to have finally wriggled free of the issues that plagued them through the back end of 2015.
That, coupled with two stellar seasons from their South African Super Rugby franchises, has Springbok fans quietly optimistic about their side’s chances in this year’s instalment of the Rugby Championship.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Pumas had a shocking Super Rugby season, with the Jaguares failing to find any sort of consistency over the duration of the competition.
That being said, the Pumas won the last exchange between these two sides, when they famously defeated the Springboks 26-24 in the second round of last year’s Rugby Championship.
They will need to turn in a similar performance this time around, otherwise it could be a long night for the visitors.
In team news, enforcer Eben Etzebeth will captain the Springboks in the absence of Warren Whiteley.
Uzair Cassiem starts at No.8 while the centre combination of Serfontein and Jesse Kriel will look to continue their fruitful partnership.
The Pumas will be led by Agustin Creevy who had a stellar Super Rugby season. The Argentine hooker was one of the shining lights for a lacklustre Jaguares outfit, and will need to be every bit as niggly and up for a contest as he was throughout that competition. Their finishers also can’t be underestimated.
Tuculet, Boffelli and Moyano form a potent back three who are some of the best counter-attackers in the world game.
Prediction
The Pumas will be better for their average Super Rugby season. I expect they’ll bring a lot of mongrel to this contest, and will probably be dominant at the breakdown.
However, the Springboks are a new beast, and have come a long way in the last two years. If they can control things in the midfield and attack when the opportunity arises, they’ll win this game comfortably.
Springboks by 19.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match, starting from 1:05am AEST.
Harry Jones
Expert
To me, it looks like Juan Martin H needs to step down. He is not up to the pace of test rugby any more.
Nobrain
Roar Guru
I am sick and tired of the coaching staff. IMO they do not prepare the games very well. Scrum is the worst and far from improving. we are using our best 3 as a 1. Piereto is avery young guy and had in front of him the most experience prop in SA while Herrera was on the bench. Also trying to have one on one duels with Sa players it seems very stupid to me. Not going fast to the ground when tackle or have a quick short pass before contact never occurred to the coaching staff. Kicking the ball to the Lions fullback is a bad idea. Not knowing what to do the few times we had posesion and Sanchez is not having his best year. The alternative is JM Hernandez with his best years already gone. I do not know about the future, I have written two articles so far this year anticipating this outcome.
Harry Jones
Expert
Nobes, it looked like the Pumas were flooding the breakdown, standing VERY flat on defence, and waiting for turnovers to counter from; but were too predictable on first phase ball. Also, they tried to play a lot of rugby from deep (only 13 kicks) and had a knock-on or other handling error on 33% of their carries! But to compound the problem, they were beaten in the scrum (5 penalties).
According to the law yes. Nick Malleet and Naas Botha were discussing that incident in detail on the weekend.
Harry Jones
Expert
Even if it's just an ankle tap?
DavSA
Guest
Start with Dan , Ruan , Combrink you would have to in the bizarre social engineering of SA rugby have to also start with Nyakane and Mngombeni . Game over.
Ex force fan
Guest
Main difference is that the Boks are used less as a developing experiment to train upcoming coaches and players. Less but it is still not the best side South Africa can pick.
Ex force fan
Guest
Let's hope that is the game where Dan du Preez, Ruan J v Rensburg, Fav and Combrink will be on the run on side. I thought Ross Cronje's service is to start against the All Blacks.
DavSA
Guest
You cannot play NZ with passengers and excess baggage . Not even 1 .( They have none) SA have 3 possibly 4 players that totally do not belong in test rugby . Hier kom n' pakslae.
TBH, I am not even considering the fact that the Springboks can compete vs New Zealand.
DavSA
Guest
I don't want to rain on our parade but some things cannot be overlooked . ... This was not a very good Argentinian side and were without a number of their stars. SA were expected to win at home and win well , anything else would have been a big upset. SA has now played France 3-0 and so far 1-0 Against Argentina. We should beat Australia given their performance against NZ but hey ....All 3 of those sides are as poor as they have been for a long time . It is against NZ that we have to measure ourselves . Go big or go home. For starters ... A. The NZ pack will not allow itself to be shoved around like Argentina and France did. This means Mr Elton Jantjies has not been put under any pressure ..He cannot play under pressure . B. The Boks have serious tackling issues in their ranks . Jantjies cannot tackle ....Raymond Rhule who shares the dubious honour of having the worst tackling stats in Superugby will not get away with 6 missed tackles a game ( as he did in 1 game against France . Against NZ thats 3 tries at least .In a recent Sunday Times article he dismissed criticism of his selection as " White Noise" ...really! By comparison Dan Du Preez in the French series made 28 tackles ..None missed ..100% record . C. The player that Rhule shares worst tackle stats with in Superugby is ....Believe it or not ...Pieter Steff Du Toit . .. The reason for that is being played by the mediocre Robbie Fleck out of position on the flank . Now another mediocre coach in Alistair Coetzee is doing the the same. D. Trevor Nyakane may well be the worst prop forward ever in the history of Bok rugby . He was an essential part of the team that were so embarrassing last year as well as being a part of the dreadful Bulls front row in Superugby this year. ( and his tackle stats also suck ). e. Malcolm Marx as brilliant a player as he is cannot find his jumpers. This is a crucial part of attacking and defensive platforms . Whitelock and co will milk this . Marx has to sort this out ..How I dunno . Thats his problem. We all saw what happened to Australia by not making tackles against The All Blacks ..You will pay in blood.
Once his knee has touched the ground he is obligated to let the ball go before getting up.
mzilikazi
Guest
Would need to see that one again...it is possible he was not held, but just felled in a "failed" tackle. He does need to be firmly held all the way to the ground.
mzilikazi
Guest
"I’m pretty sure I missed a few others." I would say the massive scrum lift by " The Beast" of his opposite tighthead. That is now considered very dangerous....IMO that could have been a card....possibly a red even. Interesting that none of the commentators picked it up either.
Ralph
Roar Guru
The old, 'wasn't held'. Only the guy who is literally crawling on his knees toward the line infuriates me more.
Ralph
Roar Guru
The best part is how you two are excited about how your guys played.
Dainis
Guest
Come on man have some faith in Boks. Although the chances are slim, but they can still compete with darkness on their home soil. I'd be happy if Boks win both games against Argentina and Australia. In my opinion, that'd be great if South Africa could bag four wins.
Nobrain
Roar Guru
Congratulations to all rugby fans in SA. The main difference from a year ago is the intensity that the Boks are palying in every aspect of the game. They still have some sincro to work but I really like the attitude. With respect of Los Pumas all I can say that if the strategy was to tackle like hell, they did. But with only that you will only lose by a narrow margin. If you want to win you must have some type of control of the ball, something that I did not see today in the game.
Grent Dosa
Roar Rookie
I was lucky enough to watch the game live at the stadium tonight, overall a much improved performance from the boks since the last time they were in PE. Things that stood out for me : - Serfontein looked good, gets over the advantage line and carries the ball straight when other players tend to drift - Jantjies general play looked good but his kicking from hand really needs work, still not a international in my opinion - Uzair Cassiem looked unfit definitely shouldn't play him for the full 80, saw him getting sick on the field in the last couple minutes - Both bok wings lots of pace to burn and Coetzee at the back was really solid - Etzebeth was everywhere - Subs JL du Preez had a noticeable impact as well as Hougaard
Harry Jones
Expert
In fact, Eben found himself as first receiver twice! Threw good long passes in both directions! Hahaha! A. Coetzee is a difficult boy to tackle--slippery