Refreshed Boks get back down to business in Buenos Aires

A refreshed Springbok squad got back down to business on Wednesday when they hit the training field for the first time since arriving in Buenos Aires on Sunday, ahead of their penultimate Rugby Championship match against Argentina next weekend.

The Boks kept themselves firmly in the Rugby Championship race after bouncing back from consecutive defeats with a thumping 24-8 win over the Wallabies in Sydney over the past weekend and they will take that momentum into the Argentina clash.

The hosts by comparison will be smarting after a 53-3 hammering by the All Blacks and will have a point to prove when they come up against the Boks.

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It has been a busy international season so far for the Boks, with them having played seven matches over the past two months, so coach Jacques Nienaber opted to give the players two days off to rest and recuperate before kicking off their preparations.

With New Zealand at the top of the log with 10 points, followed by South Africa, Australia and Argentina – who are all tied on nine points – the Boks need to win both their remaining matches, possibly with bonus points, to keep alive their hopes of winning the tournament.

Working hard

“The players have been working hard for the last two weeks and we come off two physically demanding matches against Australia, so we decided to give the players time off to recover physically and freshen up mentally with two vital games coming up,” said Nienaber.

“We need to win both our remaining matches to keep alive our Castle Lager Rugby Championship title hopes, so it’s important that the players are as fresh as possible and ready to put in the hard yards at training for what we anticipate will be another two extremely testing matches.

“Argentina are a passionate team and a force to be reckoned with, especially at home, and they proved this with their comprehensive 48-17 win against Australia. They also beat New Zealand 25-18 away from home, so we are under no illusions about the challenge ahead.”

The team had a gym and training session on Wednesday following a review of their match against Australia, which will be followed by another two training sessions on Thursday and Friday respectively.

“We looked back at our match against Australia in Sydney this morning and we are now ready to turn our attention to the next match against Argentina,” said Nienaber.

“With this technically being a slower week as we are not playing on Saturday, we will get back into the swing of things with a few gym and training sessions this week and then slot back into a full Test week programme next week.”