KINGS PARK PREVIEW: Chance for Boks to set their standard

If the match against the All Blacks in Wellington was a statement about what the Springboks are capable of, Saturday’s penultimate Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash with Argentina in Durban is about establishing that performance as their standard.

Okay, so nobody should be expecting a replication of the second half of their last game, when they produced possibly the finest 40 minutes that South Africa has ever produced against New Zealand, from the off.

As former Bok coach Nick Mallett pointed out in a podcast this week, an expectation that a team start the following game with the same momentum they finished the previous one is often disappointed.

And the Argentina team that Siya Kolisi’s team faces at Hollywoodbets Kings Park is an improved version of the Los Pumas than the one the one they faced last time these two teams met, which was in Nelspruit on the corresponding weekend of last year.

Remember that game? It was the one where Eben Etzebeth broke the South African record for the number of test caps, the Boks cooked from the off and they came within a whisker of winning by 50 points.

WHAT IF THE ‘WHAT IFS’ ARE REMOVED?

Actually, if they had won by a half century margin it wouldn’t have put a false gloss on the Bok superiority on the day. They were that much better, and they eschewed gilt-edged scoring opportunities in among the several they did take. Which is pretty much par for the course, it seems there are always “what if” moments, and the Boks appeared to be referring to that this week when they talked so much about cutting down the errors.

Had there not been errors in the first half in Wellington they might have beaten the All Blacks by 50. Had they not overplayed after that imperious opening 20 minutes in the first Championship game against Australia in Johannesburg, by which time they led 22-0, who knows what they might have achieved in that game?

They didn’t achieve it though, and the Wallabies ended up seriously embarrassing the hosts by scoring 38 unanswered points from that moment on. Argentina are arguably a better team at the moment than the Wallabies are.

While the two games in Australia between the two sides were shared, the Pumas really should have won the first one that they lost well after the hooter, and led for most of the 160 minutes of rugby between the two teams. Plus the games were both away games for the Pumas.

You could argue that the two games they finish off this Championship campaign against the Boks are away games too. London, supposedly the Argentina home game, is hardly Buenos Aires.

But while their win over New Zealand was at home, their other triumphs in recent months, meaning the one over the British and Irish Lions in Dublin and last time out in Sydney, were far from home.

ARGENTINA HAVE THE MATERIAL TO HURT THE BOKS

So they shouldn’t be daunted by Saturday’s task, and for the second time in two seasons go into the final furlong with a chance of winning the Championship for the first time ever. A more realistic chance than last year, when they had a mathematical chance going into the Nelspruit game but not a realistic one.

They do have the threats to hurt the Boks. The Sevens players in the backline can create something out of nothing, the Pumas are scoring from strike plays more than they did before.

They have some experienced forwards headed by skipper Julian Montoya and backed up by the likes of Pablo Matera and Marcos Kremer and if the pack can win parity the backs can test what at times this international season has been a suspect Bok defence.

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi has also opted for a six-two bench split between forwards and backs, which means that, with Bok coach Rassie Erasmus going again for the traditional 5/3 split, the Bomb Squad this time is on the opposition side.

There’s some experience on that bench too, with lock Guido Petti there and with him is Pedro Rubiolo. Flyhalf Tomas Albornoz, another player with experience and ability is on the bench too.

ONE ANSWER EQUALS SUBLIME

So the visitors have the capability to test the Boks and ask the question about their standard - in other words, what is it that we must expect from the world champion team going forward, the sloppiness of the last hour in Johannesburg or the first half against New Zealand at Eden Park, or the first 20 minutes at Emirates Airlines Park and the last 40 in Wellington.

If it is the latter you have sublime. If it is the former, then you have a team that maybe battles a bit with consistency and then the Boks belong more in the pack of teams chasing World Cup glory in 2027 and aren’t the stand alone that I suspect they are.

My own view is that only France have the overall depth to come close to them, but we will know more about that after the 80 minutes in Durban.

If the Boks put together the 80 minute performance they have been talking about, it may not be the one-sided game we saw in Nelspruit. The Pumas are good enough to prevent that from happening. But their best game should see them winning comprehensively all the same.

The material is there - what team in the world would not envy the Boks for being able to replace the injured Lood de Jager with Etzebeth, who is playing this game on his home ground. And after what he did to them last year, when he was man of the match, the Pumas know all about the capabilities of the distribution and cross kick wizard Manie Libbok. Who this time plays off the bench.

CHANCE FOR SACHA TO MAKE HIS OWN STATEMENT

Talking of which, the starting flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was showed glimpses of his world class artistry before having to be replaced in the first half at the Sky Stadium. Everyone will be hoping he gets through this game unscathed, for those games where he has to be replaced, and this is factoring in Stormers games, are too frequent.

If Feinberg-Mngomezulu gets through most of this game he has the talent to own the it and to send out a strong statement of his own to go along with the one that his team will make if he does play to his capabilities.

Canan Moodie and Ethan Hooker are players outside that can profit from Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s brilliance and for that matter Libbok when he comes on, while we saw in Wellington that Damian Willemse, back at fullback for this game because of the injury to Aphelele Fassi, is a wizard in equal measure.

It all stacks up really well. All that needs to happen is for the Boks to deliver. They will know exactly what they need to deliver in terms of try margin, and log points, after the All Blacks, smarting from the humiliation of two weeks ago, have hosted the ambitious Wallabies in Auckland earlier in the day.

All four sides have won two and lost two so far, with only bonus points and points difference separating them. Australia are a bonus point ahead of South Africa and New Zealand in the standings, with Argentina a point further back in a wide-open title race.

South Africa: Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe, Canan Moodie, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche.

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Morne van den Berg, Manie Libbok, Andre Esterhuizen.

Argentina: Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallía, Rodrigo Isgró, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo García, Joaquín Oviedo, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Lucas Paulos, Franco Molina, Joel Sclavi, Julián Montoya (captain), Mayco Vivas.

Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Guido Petti, Pedro Rubiolo, Juan Martín González, Simón Benítez Cruz, Tomás Albornoz.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

Kick-off: 5:10pm

Prediction: South Africa to win by 15