Not pretty but another Boks ticked

Far from a spectacle against Los Pumas, the Springboks were put through a much needed wringer on Saturday as they continued their preparations for the Rugby World Cup in France.

The Boks held on for a nervy 22-21 victory in their Rugby Championship clash over Argentina and will have much to digest in their three warm-up games before the tournament kicks off on September 8.

Having made nine changes to the starting team that lost to the All Blacks they were always going to struggle for cohesion and fluidity against redoubtable opponents who are also applying finishing touches to their World Cup plans.

In the end though the Boks will settle for the win, especially having met key objectives of spreading game time in their group, testing combinations and re-enforcing intangible qualities like grit and determination when the game was in the balance.

“It wasn't pretty. We had to grind the win out, which I'm glad for,” head coach Jacques Nienaber said. “You probably will be put under pressure like this in a World Cup. To manage it in the way the players did at the end, given the yellow card, I thought was outstanding.”

The yellow card that saw centre Damian de Allende banished from the field with eight minutes to go placed the Boks in potential peril and the visitors duly capitalised with two tries in the last five minutes to come within a point of upstaging the hosts for the first time on the highveld.

Despite the scrappy win Nienaber remained sanguine. “There were mistakes, tactical and technical that we can fix. That's the easy for me to fix. Making the collisions personal that comes from here,” said Nienaber pointing to his heart.

“Teams are so close in these games. For 16, 17 minutes in the Rugby Championship we were not on song. That can put you on the back foot.

“The World Cup will be incredibly close. You will be in this pressure situation and you can go into shell-shock mode and mindset. But hats off to Duane (Vermeulen) and the team who kept it calm when things could have gone easily out of control.”

Vermeulen, who captained the Boks for the fourth time, and again to a win, readily acknowledged their shortcomings. “It was a stop-start game for us. Our discipline didn't go in our favour. I don't know how many penalties we gave away. Some penalties just happen but you also get those avoidable penalties you shouldn't give away. It was a tough thing for us to manage.”

The Boks may not have played with the precision or the panache of the All Blacks, who crushed Australia earlier in the day, but they asserted themselves in defence.

It is that facet that has served them well in their three successful World Cup campaigns. Creating pressure on the ball-carrying opposition and then capitalising was one of the hallmarks of their 2019 win.

Manie Libbok's converted try that took the Boks 13 points clear in the second half was an example of how the hosts ruthlessly transition from defence to attack.

Being willing to hand the opposition the ball and then exercising patience in defence does however have its limitations against teams with craft and guile in attack. “I'm not sure that will win the World Cup,” Nienaber conceded.

What will also be of concern to Nienaber was the failure of their famed Bomb Squad to fire.

The Boks, even when they still had a full complement, did not make the headway in the cold, thin air at Ellis Park many had anticipated. Instead it was Los Pumas who got their tails up.

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