The Springboks have to be ready for a special performance from Argentina next weekend as the battle for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title reaches boiling point in the next two weeks with all four teams still in the race.
The Springboks will face Los Pumas at Estadio José Amalfitani in Buenos Aires on Saturday in what will mark the South Americans’ final home match in the competition, and with South Africa, Australia and Argentina all tied on nine log points and New Zealand leading the pack on 10, every point will count in the last two rounds of the competition.
With Argentina having beaten the All Blacks away from home and Australia on their home patch, Springbok prop Ox Nche was under no illusions about the challenge ahead.
“We have to impose ourselves on them,” said Nche.
“The main thing for us is that we know they always come up with something different and special, and especially in front of their home crowd, so we need to be ready for that.”
Nche expected a strong battle in the scrums and mauls against the hosts in Buenos Aires and said: “Argentina retained most of their ball in the scrum during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, and we saw that they had a plan to counter the New Zealand scrum, so it’s important that we prepare well in that department.”
Of the mauls Nche said: “It will be a good battle against them. They disrupted New Zealand’s mauls and they also did well in loose play against Australia, so they certainly plan well in terms of how they stop mauls. We’ll have to find a way to counter that.”
When asked about the Boks’ ability to perform at their best when their backs are against the wall following their impressive showing in their 24-8 victory against Australia last weekend, Nche the Boks had “a good go” against Australia, and it was mainly because they were aligned as a team.
“For us it’s not about the underdogs tag, it is about what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it,” he said.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is expected to announce his squad to face Argentina on Tuesday, and while the players have yet to find out who will be in the match 23, Nche said it was irrelevant which combinations started together following a few rotational switches by the coaches this season.
“As a team we try to look for different combinations and we train that way too, so when it a team is selected it is about getting the combinations right for that specific game and for the front rows to adapt in the match,” said Nche.
The match kicks off at 16h10 (21h10 SA Time) and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
