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Cape Town - All banter aside, Wallabies assistant coach Stephen Larkham is wary of an improved Argentine side coached by his former colleague Mario Ledesma.
Ledesma had previously been forwards coach of Australia prior to leaving that post to take up a role as head coach of Super Rugby franchise the Jaguares at the beginning of last season.
A whirlwind 12 months later and Ledesma had been appointed Argentina head coach, guiding Los Pumas to a memorable victory over the Springboks in Mendoza in only his second game in charge a fortnight ago.
And Larkham was in a playful mood when asked about his former colleague Ledesma whilst speaking to Australian Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of the sides' Rugby Championship clash at Robina Stadium on Saturday.
"He was here for a couple of years as an assistant coach and, honestly, I don't know how he's a head coach now," Larkham told AAP.
"He struggled as an assistant coach.
"I don't know what he's going to come up with this weekend.
"I expect a fair bit of scrummaging, because that's what he's good at.
"I can't see how he's had the limited success he's had already."
Larkham continued the sledging by saying he expected Ledesma to use his previous in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of the Wallabies team to mastermind another victory against the odds.
"I've seen it already, particularly the scrumming stuff. A lot of the techniques I'd spoken to him about he's implementing now," he said.
"It's going to be an interesting game and something I'm looking forward to watching, probably more so for the number of errors they're going to make."
Finally Larkham dropped all pretence and admitted this was n in-form Pumas outfit the Wallabies are very much wary of.
"As much as we joke about it, these guys are starting to play some good footy under Mario," Larkham said.
