Boks expect hard toil in Salta

Cape Town - Springbok coach Allister Coetzee says Saturday’s Test against Argentina in Salta will prove a tough challenge.

In 2014, the Boks were somewhat fortuitous to win 33-31 in Salta, with the vociferous home crowd boosting the Argentines.

Coetzee expects a similar hostile environment on Saturday.

“I think Salta poses different challenges altogether. It’s never easy, it’s tough in Salta,” Coetzee said after naming his team on Wednesday.

“The Argentinians are world force in rugby. They’re not just an improving country, they beat us last year. So it’s going to be a big challenge and I think they fancy their chances in Salta. But we’ve prepared well, we had a great week of preparation. It’s a long travel, but there are no excuses for us and we don’t expect any favours from Argentina.”

The Boks beat Los Pumas 30-23 in Nelspruit last week, but they were made to work hard after trailing 23-13 after 68 minutes.

According to Coetzee, the Springboks played well in patches and he is hoping for a more all-round performance this weekend.

“We will definitely plan well and I think our review showed that we were in control for the first 19 minutes and the last 11 minutes. We have to make sure that we control the match for longer periods.

“They took their opportunities, we didn’t take our opportunities and we made a lot of fundamental mistakes. So the focus will be to see the accuracy for longer periods this weekend.”

Kick-off for Saturday’s Test is scheduled for 21:40 (SA time).

Teams:

Argentina

TBA

Springboks

15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23, Jesse Kriel