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Cape Town - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has backed the idea to include an Argentinean side in South Africa's Currie Cup.
Erasmus and the Boks take on Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday in their second Rugby Championship clash of the year, having emerged 34-21 victors against the Pumas at Kings Park last weekend.
Meanwhile, there are three Currie Cup matches taking place this weekend.
South Africa's premier domestic rugby competition has come under fire in recent weeks due to the fact that 2018 has seen the tournament significantly shortened.
Each of the seven sides play each other once before the semi-finals, meaning that the winning side would have played just eight matches all season.
There has been talk of how to improve the Currie Cup product, and one suggestion has been to include a side from Argentina.
The Jaguares and the four South African Super Rugby sides already share a Conference in that competition, while Argentina's Pampas played in the Vodacom Cup between 2010 and 2013.
"We already saw when they played in the Vodacom cup as the Pampas, I think that was the stepping stone for them to get into Super Rugby and we all know what Super Rugby did for them," Erasmus said on Thursday.
"I think it will be a great stepping stone from provincial rugby to Super Rugby.
"I guess the guys would get a bit tired of all the travelling, so they might have to be based in South Africa like the Pampas were, but I think that would be a wonderful addition to the Currie Cup."
Kick-off in Mendoza on Saturday is at 21:10.
Teams:
Argentina
15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Bautista Ezcurra, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Agustin Creevy (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Substitutes: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21, Tomas Cubelli, 22 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 23 Juan Cruz Mallia
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Siya Kolisi (captain), 6 Francois Louw, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Damian Willemse
