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Durban - Springbok captain Jean de Villiers is grateful that there have been players like Bismarck du Plessis involved in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup.
The Boks have been without their skipper for much of their World Cup preparation over the last month as he has continued his recovery from a knee injury, and in that time the leadership responsibility fell to Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger from a captaincy perspective.
But De Villiers has added Sharks hooker Du Plessis to that group of inspirational Bok leaders.
"Bismarck has also contributed very much from a leadership point of view and he’s also one of those guys who has grown so much in his position and also as a leader," De Villiers said.
"I’ve depended on him a lot and I think our relationship has grown in that regard as well. He’s a fantastic player and his performances over the last couple of games I think are back to the world class standards that he sets for himself."
While his performance against Argentina on Saturday will be closely watched in an attempt to gauge his form, there are few who questions De Villiers' leadership.
He will join a backline on Saturday that has excited in the Rugby Championship so far, but is largely short on experience in the form of Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.
"To see the growth of the individuals and the team over the last four years is pretty special," said De Villiers.
"It’s good to know that I’ve maybe had a hand in that and hopefully have helped them to get to this stage. The team has grown a hell of a lot and in that sense I’ve also grown as a leader."
Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:05.
Teams:
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
Argentina
15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Marcos Ayerza
Substitutes: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Matías Díaz, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino
