Boks facing tough Pumas test

South Africa's captain Fourie du Preez leads his players off after the Rugby World Cup, Semi Final at Twickenham Stadium, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday October 24, 2015. See PA story RUGBYU South Africa. Photo credit should read: David Davies/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. Strictly no commercial use or association without RWCL permission. Still image use only. Use implies acceptance of Section 6 of RWC 2015 T&Cs at: http://bit.ly/1MPElTL Call +44 (0)1158 447447 for further info.

South Africa's captain Fourie du Preez leads his players off after the Rugby World Cup, Semi Final at Twickenham Stadium, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Saturday October 24, 2015. See PA story RUGBYU South Africa. Photo credit should read: David Davies/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. Strictly no commercial use or association without RWCL permission. Still image use only. Use implies acceptance of Section 6 of RWC 2015 T&Cs at: http://bit.ly/1MPElTL Call +44 (0)1158 447447 for further info.

Published Oct 27, 2015

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London – The Springboks may be battling to elevate themselves from the depths of despair for Friday night’s third place play-off but their opponents, Argentina, are already champing at the bit.

The dust had barely settled on the Pumas’ semi-final defeat to Australia when their captain and coach were already talking about beating the Boks, a stark contrast to the mention given to the game by the Boks 24 hours earlier, who had described it as “meaningless”.

To be fair to Heyneke Meyer he was still caught up in the heat of the moment of the loss to the All Blacks and when in a less emotional state will surely change his tune. Two losses out of three against the Pumas in 2015 will quickly change the minds of Springbok supporters on the fence about Meyer’s future given that the Boks were just three points from beating the All Blacks and making it to the final.

Argentina’s coach, Daniel Hourcade, went so far as to say that he did not want to dwell too much on what went wrong against the Wallabies because his mind was already switching to Friday’s game, which he regards as “must win”.

“We can’t worry too much about the semi-final anymore because we have a very big game to come, our goal is to finish in the top three, so we will be giving are all our against a very good team,” he said. “We want to finish third, which has always been our minimum requirement at this World Cup. Our pre-tournament goal was always to make the final or at the least, finish third. Nothing has changed.

“And it would be great to get another victory against South Africa,” the coach added.

Augustine Creevy, the captain, was incredulous when it was put to him that the Boks regarded the game as “meaningless”.

“I am not sure why they would say that,” he said. “Surely, it is better to finish third than it is to come fourth. It was always our ambition to finish in the top three and that goal has not changed. We are disappointed that we don’t have the chance to win the World Cup but we will still be chasing our goal. We will be going all out to beat the Boks.”

And Creevy then added a warning to the South Africans: “I believe our best game is still to come. It will be on Friday.”

On Saturday night, Meyer said of the bronze medal game: “Mentally, it’s very tough (to get past the disappointment of losing the semi-final). It does not mean anything to me. It is like kissing your sister.”

But Meyer and his troops had better get their act together fast.

The Boks’ record in 2015 is already not looking to flash and another defeat would further tarnish a disappointing year. The Boks have played 10 matches this year, won five and lost five.

And the matches they have won are against teams they are expected to beat: Samoa, Scotland, Argentina, the US and Wales.

The Boks will almost certainly have a new captain for the game because of the heavy knock Fourie du Preez took to his cheekbone against the All Blacks. Du Preez’s face was heavily swollen by the final whistle and he was taken to hospital on Saturday night for an X-Ray.

Team doctor Craig Roberts said that he had feared there would be a fracture of the cheekbone but fortunately that is not the case.

But Du Preez reckons the injury has probably ended his international career, even if he was due to play just one more match.

“I have got a broken tooth and a lot of swelling,” he said after the game.

“To be 100percent honest, I haven’t thought about the bronze final and I’m not going to think about it tonight. I don’t know if that was my last game, I’ll see how the injury goes but it probably was. That was probably my last game for the Boks”. - The Star

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