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- The Springbok and Pumas coaches were more than happy to take positives from their Rugby Championship fixture despite the difficult nature of the result.
- The Springboks won 22-21 at Ellis Park on Saturday, with Jacques Nienaber's side finishing the game with 14 men.
- Pumas coach Michael Cheika was chuffed by the manner in which his charges stayed in the game and hoped they'll go one better in Buenos Aires next weekend.
Saturday's Rugby Championship outing at Ellis Park between the Springboks and Argentina was seen from a glass-half-full perspective by the respective coaches Jacques Nienaber and Michael Cheika.
Nienaber, who coached the Boks for the last time on home soil before next week's warm-up fixture against the Pumas in Buenos Aires before they get their World Cup machinery ready for departure on 12 August, said the players will have taken crucial lessons from the 22-21 win.
The Boks finished the game with 14 players after Damian de Allende was sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown, while scrumhalf Grant Williams was invalidated out of the game in the first 10 seconds after Argentine fullback Juan Cruz Mallia collided with him after attempting a charge-down.
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Nienaber said the players will know that World Cup games are more of a grind than a coasting, with Saturday's game being one of those that'll come in handy in France from 8 September onwards.
"It wasn't pretty, and I will agree," Nienaber said.
"We had to grind out the win, which is something I'm glad for ... to be put under pressure like this [is good] because we'll experience similar conditions in the World Cup.
"To manage it like this, with the yellow card and the amount of attitude the players showed on defence, I felt it was outstanding.
"There were tactical and technical mistakes that we can fix and for me, those are the easy things that can be fixed.
"You have to grind out results in the World Cup."
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Cheika felt his side could have made more of the Boks' unusual vulnerability at Ellis Park, but also looked at how his team can improve better for Saturday night's return game.
Argentina had nine missed points from the tee, with flyhalf Santiago Carreras missing three penalties that could've altered the result markedly.
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Cheika was chuffed by the manner in which his team responded to the Springboks' challenge and hoped they can take it up a notch at Velez Sarsfield.
"I wouldn't say it's a victory that slipped away, but it's an opportunity we missed at Ellis Park," Cheika said.
"I want to keep everything in perspective in terms of how we're operating. I'm not happy about losing, but we're happy about improving from last week.
"The thing about this game is that we've had a look now in terms of what the level is like and hopefully improve to a level that we haven't played at yet.
"We'll get a chance in Buenos Aires to see if we can improve again."
