Ken Borland

The Springboks are fielding a much-changed line-up to open their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. The Pumas will be formidable opponents with all their foreign-based players in tow and looking to build on their brilliant tournament last year when their only loss came to the All Blacks, who they had beaten in their first meeting.

So the Springboks are going to have to be on top of their games to beat Argentina. Here are four players coming into the starting team who they will be relying on to do the business on Saturday.

Francois Steyn – The veteran inside centre steps into the No.12 jersey in which Damian de Allende was one of the integral parts of South Africa’s victory over the British and Irish Lions. Steyn will undoubtedly bring a similarly no-nonsense approach to this channel. His booming boot will also be an asset, especially with the new 50/22 trial law in place.

Damian Willemse – The 23-year-old is well-known for his breadth of skills and now he will be starting at fullback, where he has played most of his recent rugby. A dazzling attacking player, whether the Springboks will be able to play with much width remains to be seen. Willemse’s reading of the game and positional play will be more important, and he will be looking to take a leaf out of Willie le Roux’s book in terms of work-rate and his covering play.

Elton Jantjies – The series against the British and Irish Lions was often a laborious affair with the tourists trying to take on the Springboks at their own game, with defences and kicking games predominating. But the Rugby Championship is a Southern Hemisphere competition and has a tradition of more positive rugby being played. Jantjies is just the sort of flyhalf who could prosper. He has grown up playing a fast-paced, expansive game with the local Lions and has the ability to spark the backline. His sharp kicking game can also be a factor.

Kwagga Smith – Given Argentina’s fondness for groping around in the rucks, Smith, as the quickest of the loose forwards, is going to have a key role to play in protecting South Africa’s ball at the breakdowns. The Pumas are past-masters at slowing down and disrupting possession, so if Smith can help the Springboks get quick ball then he might also be able to play more of a hand in attack, where his Sevens skills can obviously come to the fore.

Anyone who watches Griquas play rugby knows that they are a side that may be a little rough around the edges but they go all-in with everything they do, and their high-flying third position on the Currie Cup log is the reward for their determination. Bulls coach Jake White certainly knows how difficult they are to tame even though he will be fielding a rejigged outfit against them at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday afternoon.

Centre Lionel Mapoe, wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, flank Arno Botha and prop Gerhard Steenekamp all return to the starting line-up, while tighthead Jacques van Rooyen and the highly-rated utility forward Jacques du Plessis, who has returned to Pretoria from Montpellier, are on the bench.

“We’ve picked a strong team with a couple of guys coming back from injury, because Griquas are not easy to play against. Griquas are really enjoying their season, they’ve done phenomenally well and have had big wins away from home. Every contest on the field they go in with 100% commitment. They have good players who are playing well. My first game coaching the Bulls was against Griquas here at Loftus Versfeld and we were 10-0 down very quickly,” White said on Tuesday.

Both the Bulls and Griquas are coming off defeats last weekend, but the defending Currie Cup champions were probably more annoyed by the way they were ripped apart amidships by the Sharks in the third quarter, when they went from being 20-13 up to trailing 32-20.

“If you’re not on top of your game then you can be on the receiving end, that’s the fantastic thing about sport. If you’re not winning you’re learning, so that will be a learning curve for us. We need to understand pressure cycles better, we managed to build pressure but we didn’t seem to understand that we had the opposition by the throat. But you only learn to understand those things on the field,” White said.

Bulls team – David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Schalk Erasmus, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench:Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Janko Swanepoel, Jacques du Plessis, Keagan Johannes, Chris Smith, Stedman Gans.

Debutant Springbok wing Aphelele Fassi has spent the last couple of weeks fielding congratulatory phone calls from King Williams Town and Dale College wishing him good luck for the start of his international career.

The Eastern Cape has been very proud of the 23-year-old ever since he started making waves at the Sharks, and many observers believe he is a unique talent, with a combination of physical attributes that is seldom seen.

And Lady Luck certainly had her eyes on the prodigious young talent as he scored with his first touch in Test rugby in the first Test against Georgia. Not that luck had too much to do with it though as Fassi showed, while galloping down the touchline, the many attributes he has – good hands to take the pass slightly behind him, a massive stride, great feet, searing pace and clinical finishing ability. Just before halftime, he set up the Springboks’ third try with his clever chip infield just to showcase a kicking game befitting a former schoolboy flyhalf star.

“When I first got the ball, I just saw space in front of me and my first instinct was to just back myself and go for the try. Mzwandile Stick [backline coach] gave me the confidence during the week to back myself and just finish off whatever opportunities I get. I’m very proud to represent my country and I’ve had people from back at school and home phoning me to wish me good luck, including the principal.

“In my first Currie Cup game, I did the same thing. And I did visualise it again on my bed in the hotel this week, but you don’t really think it’s going to happen. And then it all happened so quickly. It’s a moment I will cherish for a long time,” Fassi said after the Test.

The lanky [1.89m] athlete has usually played at fullback in senior rugby but he also made his Currie Cup debut for the Sharks on the wing back in 2018 and also scored an impressive counter-attacking try, following a mistake by the Bulls.

The Springbok family looks to have welcomed a new star, one that will hopefully follow in the footsteps of all-time leading try-scorer Bryan Habana, who also scored with his first touch in Test rugby, against England in 2004.

“It’s been fantastic being part of the Springbok environment and the senior guys have obviously given me plenty of guidance. I feel very comfortable in this set-up,” Fassi said.

And he certainly looked very comfortable out on the field as well.

“This is not the standard of fielding you are used to from a South African team,” coach Mark Boucher admitted on Thursday before explaining his frustration over the performance in that crucial department ahead of the fourth and final T20 against Pakistan at Centurion on Friday.

The Proteas have to win on Friday to level the series, but it has been an uphill struggle for a bowling attack shorn of its first-choice fast bowlers and not being particularly well-backed in the field. It was particularly apparent in the third T20 when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan survived a few half-chances before putting the bowling to the sword as Pakistan chased down 204 with two overs to spare.

“We are pushing the guys so hard in training and the frustration is that they are brilliant then, taking unbelievable catches and the intensity is great. But then in the last game from the second over already we gave away soft runs. We need the guys to stand up in the field and we have been asking the players why the energy and intensity is not there always?

“It’s almost like they take a step back when they get into a match and this is not the standard of fielding you are used to from a South African team. We need to change that, it is something we are addressing and fielding is largely about attitude. Maybe the players are lacking confidence to bring it on match day?” Boucher mused on Thursday.

South Africa also need to be much better under pressure than they were in the third T20, which was as one-sided as the Proteas’ big win in the second match at the Wanderers.

“Under pressure, the guys have not responded the way we know they can. They’re not used to being attacked like that at this level, they got rattled and we did not stick to the plan, we ended up chasing the ball a bit. We’ve gone from the absolute high three days ago to the last game, that’s T20 cricket. We just looked completely rattled under pressure and it was a bad day.

“But three days ago we were very good and that shows things can change quickly in T20 cricket, as long as the energy is right. So we need to come with the right attitude and intensity, yes we have to execute our skills as well, but in our meetings all morning with the players, I got the sense that they know they were not up to scratch and they really want to put that right,” Boucher said.