Rassie Erasmus will know whether the clash against Argentina and the Springboks’ training intensity will be enough preparation for the returning players ahead of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks.
That is according to former head coach Nick Mallett, who believes that the match against Los Pumas will be ‘massive’ for the 10 players returning from injury ahead of the highly anticipated showdown between South Africa and New Zealand.
Erasmus has already named his 44-man squad for the series and the fixture in South America, which serves not only as a warm-up for the Boks but also an opportunity to get minutes into the legs of those returning from injury.
The likes of Handre Pollard, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie and Andre Esterhuizen turned out for the Boks in their Nations Championship fixtures but all sustained injuries – which limited them to just a single appearance each. They have all overcome those setbacks to make the squad and are joined by the fit-again Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Morne van den Berg.
Springboks’ strength in depth
The August 8 meeting with Los Pumas in Buenos Aires serves as the Boks’ final match before the Test series commences at Ellis Park 14 days later, and while Mallett believes that Erasmus’ men are in a good space depth-wise, he is wary of the readiness of some of the players.
He singled out the most-capped Springbok of all-time, Etzebeth, to prove his point, with the lock playing just one game since last November as he served a ban for eye-gouging, then suffered an injury on his return with the Sharks and a concussion which ruled him out of the July internationals.
“We have tremendous strength in depth and variety of players that we can introduce to the game. What’s important from the squad selected is the freshness, enthusiasm and game-readiness of the group when they play the first Test against New Zealand,” Mallett said on the Talking Boks podcast.
“A guy like Eben Etzebeth, who has taken such a long time to get back in the mix, you’ve got to question whether one game versus Argentina and the intensity in camp is going to be enough for him to go into an All Blacks game. Rassie will have an answer to that question; he will know it far better than us.”
Springboks: Nick Mallett’s verdict on Siya Kolisi versus Paul de Villiers debate
All Blacks bolter to crack Dave Rennie’s touring squad and what it means for Ardie Savea
Massive game versus Argentina
Another remark from Erasmus caught Mallett’s eye which the ex-Boks boss believes will factor into his selection plans for the four Tests against the All Blacks.
“It was quite interesting; he did mention that he has been part of Springboks teams that look great on paper, but the guys haven’t been able to train every session in the week,” he continued.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“So the guys are able to play on Saturday, but they are still recovering from the game the previous Saturday, and he said that you are never able to perform well if you are not physically able to handle the workload of a hard week and then go into the game on Saturday.
“So this Argentina game is a massive game for so many of our players.”