Image copyright: Getty Images
2022 Rugby Championship
Round 5
Argentina v South Africa
Libertadores de America Stadium
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Saturday, 17 September 2022
Kick-off is at 21h10
South Africa will aim to keep their
Rugby Championship title challenge alive when they take on Argentina at the Libertadores de America Stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday, September 17.
The Springboks ended a nine-year winless drought in Australia when they beat the Wallabies 24-8 at the Sydney Football Stadium in round 5 to secure a bonus point.
The result saw them go level with Australia and the Pumas in the standings on nine points, one behind New Zealand with two matches left to play.
Image copyright: Getty Images
The Boks have a formidable record in Argentina, winning 12 of their 15 tests on the South American continent, but head coach Jacques Nienaber doesn't expect the Pumas to roll over for them on this occasion.
"The players have been working hard for the last two weeks, and we come off two physically demanding matches against Australia, so we decided to give the players time off to recover physically and freshen up mentally with two vital games coming up," Nienaber said.
"We need to win both our remaining matches to keep alive our Rugby Championship title hopes, so it's important that the players are as fresh as possible and ready to put in the hard yards at training for what we anticipate will be another two extremely testing matches.
"Argentina are a passionate team and a force to be reckoned with, especially at home, and they proved this with their comprehensive 48-17 win against Australia. They also beat New Zealand 25-18 away from home, so we are under no illusions about the challenge ahead."
Michael Cheika's team are also still in the mix despite a crushing 53-3 loss to the All Blacks in Hamilton last time out.
The Pumas had recorded their first-ever victory in New Zealand the previous week, but Cheika admitted they lost the physical battle in the middle of the park second time around and weren't able to recover in the wet conditions.
"Obviously New Zealand played well, we were below par," he said. "The combination of those two things didn't end up well for us. I think we just lost the battle, lost the physicality. Pure and simple. You got to own it.
"In the first game we owned the physicality and in the second game we lost it. With the conditions as well, that becomes more important and the game got away from us.
"Obviously they bring intensity but it's a two-sided equation, we can bring that back as well and we didn't do that enough. So when you don't bring it back enough, that's what happens to you.
"It was not like it was a surprise. We just didn't come with it, especially around the rucks, in the middle. We lost the battle in the middle and therefore lost the game."
Head-to-Head:
Matches - 32
Argentina - 3
South Africa - 28
Draws - 1
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