The Springboks have beaten Argentina in 10 of their last 11 games, but won't underestimate them in their Rugby Championship finale.
The Springboks won’t underestimate Argentina in the finale of the Rugby Championship at Twickenham on Saturday, despite their dominance over the South American team.
In the 39 games played between the two sides in their history, the Boks have won 34, Argentina four, and there has been one draw.
Los Pumas have over the past few years improved in leaps and bounds, and are now considered one of the most dangerous teams in world rugby, though they remain incredibly inconsistent.
Just this season they have shown that, by beating the British and Irish Lions away, before losing a home series against an understrength England, while they bounced back from defeats against the All Blacks and Wallabies to win the second match against both.
Last year they also edged the Boks by one point in a thriller in Santiago del Estero, but that has been their only win over them in their last 11 outings, stretching back to 2019.
And in that time, most of the Bok wins have been convincing, with only the one point win at Ellis Park in 2023, and six point win at Loftus in 2019 being close, while every other win has been by more than seven points.
Despite those stats, and the current top form that they are in, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus says they have too much experience to take Argentina lightly, as they chase back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time in their history.
Hurting Argentina
“We will be playing against an Argentinian team who will be hurting, and we know when we’ve been hurting how we pitch up the next week,” said Erasmus.
“It helps that we have plenty of experienced guys like Siya (Kolisi), Eben (Etzebeth) and Ox (Nche), so we won’t fall into the trap of thinking we have the perfect side. It was far from a perfect game (last week), though there were brilliant performances.
“But if we lose this game, it would not be because we think we are the business. We will make sure that is not the case.”
The Boks‘ convincing 67-30 thrashing of Los Pumas in Durban over the past weekend came after a blowout second half, with the visitors having challenged the hosts hard in the first to only trail 25-23 at the break, thanks to the brilliance of flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and a try after the halftime hooter.
Erasmus acknowledged that fact, and added that trying to clinch a second straight title will add a bit of pressure to the team going into the match.
“I think the final score flattered us a little bit. At minute 65, it was still a very close game. Then they ran out of reserves, and they were 14 men for the last 12 minutes, when we scored a couple of tries. So we expect a big fight back from them,” said Erasmus.
“Probably for us it’s a bit nerve-wracking because we have to win this game to win the Rugby Championship.”
