The shortened 2023 Rugby Championship will come to a conclusion this weekend, and in the final match of the competition, we will see South Africa play host to Argentina at Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Springboks are still in with a slim chance of claiming the title, but they will need to win this match and hope that New Zealand lose to the Wallabies, while Argentina could be on the verge of avoiding the wooden spoon for the first time in six years.
Match preview
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Over the years, South Africa have developed a reputation for underperforming in the Rugby Championship, having won the competition only once during the four-team era that began in 2012.
They put on an incredible display in their opening match of the tournament, overcoming the Wallabies by a massive 43-12 scoreline, but they were unable to maintain their good form a week later when they took on the All Blacks in Auckland as they slumped to a 35-20 defeat.
Concerns have arisen after their somewhat lacklustre display against New Zealand, particularly as they are approaching the defence of their World Cup title in France, and with this upcoming challenge, the Springboks may find themselves facing heightened scrutiny, which ramps up the pressure for them to deliver a solid performance against the Pumas.
Still, there are several positives that Jacques Nienaber can take away from this competition, chief among which will be the performances of some of the emerging players, such as Manie Libbok, who has been recalled to the starting lineup for the upcoming match after impressing at Loftus Versfeld in the opening match.
While winning the competition may be out of their hands, the Springboks remain the only side that have won the Rugby Championship/ World Cup double, which is something that even the formidable All Blacks were unable to do during their back-to-back World Cup victories in 2011 and 2015.
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Meanwhile, Argentina will be desperate to hand over the wooden spoon to Australia after receiving the unwanted title each year since 2015, with the exception of 2020 when they did not participate in this competition.
After receiving a 41-12 thrashing at the hands of the All Blacks in the opening fixture in Mendoza, the Pumas headed down under and bounced back in fine style, pulling off an incredible 34-31 win over Australia a week later.
After going 10-0 down inside the first 20 minutes, Argentina fought back valiantly, led by their solid frontline and stayed in the game before Juan Martin Gonzalez scored a 79th-minute try to earn a famous away victory over the Wallabies.
That result illustrates just how much the Pumas have improved over the last 12 months and is also the first time in history that they beat the Wallabies in back-to-back matches after smashing them 48-17 in San Juan last year.
Between those wins over Australia, Argentina also managed a very good victory over England late last year while they also beat the All Blacks 25-18 in this competition in 2022.
However, they will come into this match as the heavy underdogs, having never beaten the Springboks in South Africa and failing to win any of their last six encounters dating back to September 2018.
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Team News
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Nienaber has made as many as nine changes to the starting 15 that lost against the All Blacks a fortnight ago, and Duane Vermeulen has been selected to lead the Springboks in this final match of the competition after starting on the bench in Auckland.
As mentioned earlier, Libbock will start at flyhalf and will be joined by Grant Williams, who will be making his first start for the team at scrumhalf.
Other changes include Malcolm Marx in for Bongi Mbonambi, Marvin Orie replacing Lood de Jager and the hat-trick hero in the first match, Kurt-Lee Arendse, will also play from the start in this one.
Meanwhile, Michael Chieka has made five changes to the Pumas side that beat the Wallabies, with Juan Cruz Mallia, Santiago Chocobares, and Lautaro Bazan Velez all being returned to the starting 15.
Veteran winger Juan Imhoff, who scored a famous hat-trick against the Springboks in 2015, has also been added to the team, which will mean that Mateo Carreras moves to the opposite flank.
South Africa starting lineup: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. Cheslin Kolbe, 13. Jesse Kriel, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Grant Williams, 8. Duane Vermeulen (c), 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6. Marco van Staden, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Malcolm Marx, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. Trevor Nyakane, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. Kwagga Smith, 20. RG Snyman, 21. Faf de Klerk, 22. Lukhanyo Am, 23. Damian Willemse
Argentina starting lineup: 15. Juan Cruz Mallia, 14. Mateo Carreras, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Santiago Chocobares, 11. Juan Imhoff, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Lautaro Bazan Velez; 8. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Santiago Grondona, 6. Pablo Matera, 5. Tomas Lavanini, 4. Lucas Paulos, 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2. Julian Montoya (c), 1. Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16. Ignacio Ruiz, 17. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18. Joel Sclavi, 19. Pedro Rubiolo, 20. Facundo Isa, 21. Gonzalo Bertranou, 22. Tomas Albornoz, 23. Matias Moroni
Head To Head
In 34 matches played, the Springboks have an impressive record with 30 wins, while the Pumas have won 3, and 1 match ended in a draw.
The Springboks have scored 1,193 points while conceding 657 points, with 140 tries scored and 62 tries conceded.
One noteworthy milestone here is that Etzebeth will participate in his 20th Test against the Pumas, making him the first Springbok player to reach 20 Test matches against Argentina.
We say: South Africa 37-20 Argentina
While the Springboks did lose their last match, they are a difficult opponent for any side on their home patch and have an incredible record against the Pumas over the last decade. Having had two weeks to figure out where they went wrong in the last match, we fancy the South Africans to bounce back with a solid win in this one.
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Devesh Jaganath
