Ken Borland

Triumphant Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said Argentina are a tough side to crack and his team had to first make them soft up front, setting up their emphatic 48-7 win in Mbombela, which also sealed the Rugby Championship title for South Africa.

Although the Springboks scored seven tries, four of them going to backs, the platform for victory, following their 29-28 defeat in Argentina last weekend, was laid up front. South Africa utterly dominated the scrums and won all 10 of their lineouts.

“The manner we are trying to play may be more attacking, but we still want to be physical, have scrum dominance and our lineout worked very well tonight too. It made them tired trying to stop our tight five all the time, it was a bit like slow poison.

“It was a learning school for us last week, but I didn’t expect that sort of scoreline tonight because Argentina are very difficult to play against. Things were really tight in the beginning and they kept us out. But we didn’t want to stand back, it was all about temperament and leadership for us.

“We’ve used 35 players in the Rugby Championship, but for those crunch games it’s the older heads who pull us through. It was not spectacular by us, but we showed good intent. Argentina are physical, nippy and great on attack. Jerry Flannery [defence coach] was very nervous before the game but we kept them to just one try.

“We were gutsy enough, we played brilliantly at stages, much better than we did against them that side. It wasn’t perfect, but there was some really good stuff to build on,” Erasmus said after South Africa won the Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019.

While Argentina were able to keep the dominant Springboks out for the first eight minutes, they were unable to keep in touch thereafter as South Africa romped to a 27-7 lead at halftime.

“The heartbreak is because of how we lost,” Pumas coach Felipe Contepomi said. “We were never able to be the team we wanted to be, and then it becomes very hard when you play a team that has won the World Cup twice. They were better than us from minute one to 80 and that’s the story.

“I recognise that our players kept battling hard and working to get back, but we did not do what we wanted to do, especially in terms of defence. It is disappointing but it is part of learning – how to be better when under pressure. You need to stay poised and believe in what you’ve done in training,” Contepomi said.

Bulls coach Jake White is not one to massage the egos of his players, but he said on Thursday that he hoped their “embarrassing” defeat in the Rainbow Cup final does not make them fearful and he wants them to go out and have a go when they return to action with a Currie Cup match against the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Bulls were hammered 35-8 by Benetton Treviso in Italy, leaving them shellshocked. But White is hoping they will not be “gun-shy” against the fired-up Pumas side that never stands back, especially not with the confidence gained from their bonus point win over the Lions.

There are only a handful of players taking on their neighbours on Friday night who did not play in the Benetton ambush.

“There could be that fear factor, the guys could go into their shell because of the damage done last weekend, which would not be good. We’ve got to bounce back, we are still one of the top sides in South Africa, the Currie Cup champions, and there’s massive motivation. But the true test will come when the guys run on the field. I’m hoping what we learnt about intensity in Italy is taken a step up.

“We worked hard to get to 8-8 against Benetton but then we did not fire a shot. It was a different level of intensity and I want us to play and not be scared against the Pumas. We’re not going to lose the competition on Friday night and I want us to have a go after we were a bit gun-shy last weekend. The captain said they were a bit embarrassed and people expect us to rebound and react,” White said.

White said his search for something to “spark” the team was behind the selection of veteran Gio Aplon at starting fullback and the call-up of new signing Harold Vorster, the powerful former Lions star who has the chance to nail down the No.13 jersey.

“Gio is unbelievably important to us, after seven months out with a knee injury he makes a great try-saving tackle against the Sharks and he had three or four phenomenal touches in last week’s final. And that’s not mentioning how much work he puts into the wings, Madosh Tambwe and Stravino Jacobs, it’s like having a senior coach out there.

“Harold was phenomenal for the Lions and hopefully he and Gio can spark something because we were flat last week, a bit reluctant to play. They are experienced and hopefully they will have a go because they don’t feel as much pressure. I would like to see what we learnt in Italy translated into our game against the Pumas, we must make sure we take that pace and intensity forward,” White said.

Bulls team: Gio Aplon, Madosh Tambwe, Harold Vorster, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smith, Ivan van Zyl, Marcell Coetzee (C), Ruan Nortje, Nizaam Carr, Janko Swanepoel, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka. Bench – Sidney Tobias, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Muller Uys, WJ Steenkamp, Zak Burger, FC du Plessis, David Kriel.