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Coach Cheika confident Pumas can shock Boks at Ellis Park
"The one thing you know you'll get from a South African team is high-quality players."
Argentina are confident of shocking the Boks on Saturday. Picture: EPA-EFE/Dan Himbrechts
Argentina coach Michael Cheika believes his team have what is required to pick up a win against the Springboks in their Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5.05pm).
Los Pumas have claimed impressive scalps of top teams in recent years, among them the likes of New Zealand, England, Scotland and Australia, and now they have their sights set on the Boks.
Cheika believes his Los Pumas side can pull off a surprise win against the world champions.
‘Strong self-belief’
“The result is pretty important. We’re not here if we don’t like winning,” Cheika told the media ahead of the game.
“We know not many people think we’re going to win on Saturday, but we have got a strong self-belief, we are building self-belief. We’d like to be consistent in our game,” he said.
The South American nation are using the Rugby Championship to prepare for the Rugby World Cup in France later this year.
They began their season with a loss to New Zealand at home and then defeated the Wallabies away 34-31. Although they are out of the race for the Rugby Championship title, Saturday’s match won’t be a dead rubber for them, as they look to fine-tune their game ahead of the World Cup.
‘Quality Boks’
“We are focused on ourselves, getting our basics right. We want to improve those things week to week, our defence (that’s something we’re working on),” said Cheika.
“Yes, there are new answers you get according to the team you are playing against but it’s pretty much getting your basics right and getting everyone ready to go.
“Our communication system and our defensive style and what we are trying to do. We’re building a little bit more in attack this year, we are trying to keep a little more possession as we go along the way, so that will be challenging on Saturday.
“I feel like we’re on a good track, we still got a lot of work to do.”
Cheika is expecting the Boks team that will run out at Ellis Park to bring quality on the day.
“The one thing you know you’ll get from a South African team is high-quality players,” he said.
“They’re fantastic players, they’re very high quality and you know they are going to come with a high-quality game.”
