Having won all three Nations Championship matches this month, the Boks will now look ahead to the series against New Zealand.
Siya Kolisi is believed to be ready to start playing again. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images
Now for Argentina and then the All Blacks.
And the good news is the Springboks are set to be boosted by the return to action of regulars such as captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Also, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie and Morne van den Berg will be ready to face the Pumas in Buenos Aires on 8 August.
Handre Pollard, too, who has been nursing a hamstring injury, should be good to go as well.
And don’t be surprised if Junior Boks star flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed finds himself in the Bok mix in the coming weeks.
Following the Boks’ 43-0 win against Wales in the final Nations Championship match this month in Durban on Saturday, coach Rassie Erasmus praised the performance of debutants such as No 10 Vusi Moyo, wing Jaco Williams, prop Carlu Sadie and lock Ruben van Heerden, by saying “a lot of guys came through this Test match with right tick marks.”
He added: “Sacha’s coming back, Pollard pulled a hamstring but he’s fit again … and Yaqeen, he’s a wonderful player. I would love to have him in the mix.”
Erasmus said the plan was always to give as many players as possible a chance to show what they can do over the four matches Bok matches so far this season, including the non-Test against the Barbarians.
“We wanted to give everyone a good chance,” said Erasmus after his team’s 11th straight Test win on Saturday.
“We’ll take 26 guys to Argentina, and leave 15 or 16 here to start training for the New Zealand Tests.
“Argentina will be tough, but we’ve got a chance to keep building our game. Today [Saturday] was a nice step,” said Erasmus.
Though the Boks won their three Nations Championship matches comfortably, scoring a total of 20 tries and 130 points, to 49 points conceded, Erasmus said it was more important that certain team aspects improved and players gained experience.
“We’re top of the table [in the Nations Championship] but I’d rather take it department by department … how was the scrum, how was the defence, the mauls, the attack, the handling?
“We also tried to get better in each position player-wise and also technically. We definitely got better every game.
“But we still haven’t picked our best 23. We need to be four players deep [in each [position] in case of injuries, and I think we’re getting there.”
