Durban – Springbok coach Allister Coetzee and his captain, Adriaan Strauss, need no reminding that their supply of ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ cards is not inexhaustible and tomorrow, in inhospitable Salta, there will literally and figuratively be no green grass of home for the Boks, or any other comforts to steer them home.
In short, the Boks are going to have to gel sooner rather than later to win this fixture in the hot dry northwest of Argentina where the ground is bone hard and the local fans scream themselves hoarse.
Salta is at attitude, nestling in the foothills of the Andes at 1 152m, although geographical elevation should not be a major issue for either side, even with Nelspruit, the venue for last week’s match between the sides, coming in at 677m (Johannesburg is 1 753m).
The Boks almost lost in Salta in 2014, when a last-minute Morne Steyn penalty inched the Boks home 33-31. Perhaps it is no coincidence that veteran Steyn has been recalled to sit on the bench for this one.
The Pumas will be feeling they are closing in on a first-ever home victory over South Africa.
The Argentinians famously won in Durban last year and were a few minutes from winning last week in Mpumalanga, so they will fancy their chances tomorrow of another historic triumph. And rightly so if the Springboks deliver the same quality of performance as last week.
While there is sympathy for Coetzee in that he has had to try and hit the ground running this season with a new side, new management team and unwilling opponents in Ireland and now Argentina, the bottom line is that his charges must be running short on good fortune.
To be truthful about the Boks’ four Tests under Coetzee, the Boks have to be pleased with three wins from four when it could well have been zero from four had the rugby gods not smiled on the South Africans.
To give this Test match its critical significance, it must be taken into account that the Boks’ next encounter is in Brisbane against a Wallabies team that will have targeted the fixture and which could be utterly desperate after a probable six defeats in a row - starting with the World Cup final against the All Blacks last year, taking in three home losses to England, last week’s defeat to New Zealand in Sydney and a likely reverse in Wellington tomorrow.
The Boks then travel from Brisbane to Christchurch to play the All Blacks.
It simply does not get any easier for the Boks as they journey through the Rugby Championship, and you have to think that a win tomorrow is beyond vital, and it must be a win produced by cohesive play as the players come together under the plan Coetzee placed on the blackboard in the team room before that first Test against Ireland in June. - The Star