What Rassie Erasmus got ‘wrong’ about Argentina as Springboks boss admits error ahead of Rugby Championship showdown
Springboks taking on Argentina in the Rugby Championship, and South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Rassie Erasmus believes that South Africa and Argentina are “similar” and concedes that he made the “wrong” assumption about rugby in South America.
The Springboks take on Los Pumas in the penultimate round of the Rugby Championship this weekend in what is a huge match.
Although Felipe Contepomi’s men reside at the bottom of the table, with the hosts in second, both teams have won two of their four games.
The winner on Saturday will therefore give their title chances a huge boost ahead of the final encounter in the tournament, which takes place at Twickenham.
There will obviously be a significant rivalry on the field in Durban but it is a different story off it, according to Erasmus, despite him making a slight faux pas when speaking about the Argentinian game last season.
‘They’ve always stood by us’
“We love Argentina. [Former scrum-half and ex-World Rugby vice chairman] Agustin Pichot is a friend of mine, we’re very close friends,” he told reporters.
“They’ve always stood by us when we’ve needed them and I think we’ve stood by them when they needed us. I think our countries are similar in certain ways.
“I know their club system is getting better. I wrongly said last year that they don’t have a good club system with players playing all over the world, and one of the guys explained to me how the club system works there.
“They’re sacrificing a hell of a lot, they didn’t even go from Australia back home, they came straight here and they’re all over the world anyway before they come into camp. There are people who are desperate, not just on the field but off the rugby field.
“You see what they’re doing this year, you know they can beat any team. They beat us last year and they’re one of the teams since I’ve been involved that gave us one of the biggest hidings.
“We love playing against them and I think we’re very similar in how we are as people.”
Erasmus named his Springboks team to take on Los Pumas on Tuesday, making tweaks rather than mass changes for the first Argentina encounter.
South Africa’s head coach surprised many by almost altering his entire backline ahead of the record victory over the All Blacks.
Springboks continuity?
It was a decision which paid off as they humiliated New Zealand 43-10, but the Boks boss has not ruled out rotating heavily again.
The 52-year-old was certainly not afraid to do it for this contest but felt that a similar-looking team suited the clash against the adventurous Argentines.
“The team we picked was definitely with Argentina in mind, to try and win this game. They’re speedy, they’re bouncy,” Erasmus said.
“[Lucio] Cinti’s a sevens player, [Santiago] Chocobares. The nine is unbelievably pacy, the wingers are both pacy, the full-back is so experienced and they’ve really got a well-balanced team.
“This team we’ve picked is not just for continuity from last week. Even if we lost last week, the mix of this team… we think the youth that they (Argentina) have and the willingness to play from deep, and the way they are aerially, it’s very similar to how we played at one stage.”
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