Sharpening up their breakdown work is one of the main focus points for the Springboks ahead of their potential Rugby Championship decider against Argentina on Saturday.
The world champions returned to the training ground yesterday in Buenos Aires where the first part of their preparation starts ahead of the clash in Santiago del Estero. The Argentinian capital will be home to the Boks until tomorrow evening when they travel to Santiago, where the rest of the training will take place ahead of the Test on Saturday at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades (kick-off 11pm).
According to Springbok loose forward Kwagga Smith, they must be on top of their game, especially at the breakdown, to stop the powerful ball-poaching loose forwards Los Pumas possess.
“It’s a huge opportunity to win the Rugby Championship,” Smith said yesterday from Buenos Aires.
“Argentina is also in the running to win the competition for the first time, so they will be really desperate to come out and win with five points at home to make it a final in Nelspruit next week.”
“But we can’t look too far ahead because it’s going to be a really tough game this weekend. Argentina is also in the running to win the competition for the first time, so they will be really desperate to come out and win with five points at home to make it a final in Nelspruit next week.
“We will only focus on this game and physically match them. We know they will be coming out to get a win and stay in contention for the title.
“After playing the All Blacks twice we have some learnings. Defensively, we wanted to stop momentum a little better after that first Test and in the second we lost a lot of ball possession at the breakdown.
“New Zealand got a lot of turnovers and then broke our momentum on the attack. That is two areas we will work hard on.”
Remember when @EbenEtzebeth started and finished this stunner last year against Argentina 🤩💥#Springboks#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/DHJVhfwMsR
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 16, 2024
He added that the Argentinians have a few good loose forwards who can make life difficult for the Boks at the breakdown and that is one of the areas they expect a big battle.
The other challenge the world champions will face is from the hostile Pumas supporters in a stadium relatively unknown to the South Africans.
Smith said they have to take the jeering from the passionate crowd and convert that into energy to motivate each other.
“It’s not going to be easy. They can still win and their crowd will be more passionate knowing that.
“Our communication must be good on the day. I’ve obviously been here a couple of times with Super Rugby and internationally and it is a hostile crowd, but they are really passionate.
“On the field, it drives you and you know you have to pitch up and make sure you play well so that they (the crowd) don’t get too loud. I enjoy it a lot, it’s a great challenge.
“This Argentina team in the tournament can win (against) any team and we can’t just rock up and expect things to happen. It will be a physical battle, but we must play for each other and work hard to win.
“A lot of their guys come from sevens and they possess a lot of X-factor in the backline and the experience in the forwards to get that physical dominance. We must make sure we clean up well defensively and avoid falling into the trap of playing too individually against them.”
Head coach Rassie Erasmus will announce his matchday 23 today.