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Cape Town - A third successive, noticeably "experimental" Springbok line-up of the season? Or the start of the increasingly time-challenged process of funnelling it down to a more obvious first team?
If Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus, his split-resources policy having worked to a praiseworthy degree over the course of the unbeaten respective Wallaby and All Black Tests, chooses the former route again for the decisive closing Rugby Championship fixture against Argentina in Salta in just under a fortnight, then his combination will naturally be much harder to predict.
But there will also be a fair clamour, considering the log-leading Boks’ tantalising closeness to the trophy in this abbreviated Championship year, for him to throw the Full Monty, in many senses, at the date with the Pumas.
Not only that, but Erasmus is also running short of matches - only two to follow after the trip to South America - in which to prime his most senior personnel for that red-letter first RWC 2019 date with New Zealand in Yokohama on September 21.
So if he is going to deem Salta the fitting place to lay his A-team cards more profoundly on the table, it raises the intriguing thought of what that first XV may look like on Saturday week (21:40 kick-off, SA time).
Both his match-day combos thus far have earned rousing results in differing ways: the first by comfortably downing Australia 35-17 on home soil, the second by earning a tenacious 16-16 draw with New Zealand on their own formidable turf.
It gives him a pleasant sort of dilemma.
A personal inclination - if the Bok mastermind is, indeed, swayed toward taking the first-choices route - would be to retain the nucleus of the starting line-up who ran out in Wellington, especially as there is a fortnight between games so less of a need, arguably, to fret over workloads or knocks and bumps.
That would mean, if I had the luxury of selecting it, that exactly two-thirds (10) of the personnel entrusted with jerseys 1-15 in the Cake Tin would keep their berths for Salta, providing a healthy enough sense of continuity at a time when that should be pursued with increased vigour.
It might include one positional switch, if strong-thighed S’bu Nkosi - better on the right wing against Australia, I felt, than Makazole Mapimpi was on the left against New Zealand - earns a recall at his Sharks franchise colleague’s expense; in-form Cheslin Kolbe’s attractive versatility across the back three could see him fairly seamlessly cross sides to No 11 from No 14 duties if that is felt prudent.
Where else could the Bok XV who held the world champions potentially strengthen, for what might be a rough-and-tumble old clash against the Pumas?
Certainly Trevor Nyakane springs quickest to mind after his sturdy showing as tighthead starter against the Wallabies, and then the way he helped transform the Bok scrum at a critical time, from the bench, in Wellington.
That low centre of core strength makes him difficult for a rival loose-head to pack down against, and he would only add to likely Bok bossing of that set-piece (at the expense of Frans Malherbe, if preferred) against an Argentinean side labouring noticeably these days in that area after their majesty of old.
Neither of South Africa’s two different centre pairings have set the world alight – that said, they haven’t disgraced either - across the Johannesburg and Wellington Tests, so perhaps the time has come, after two solid appearances as a substitute, for veteran Frans Steyn to have a timely crack as a starter in the inside channel.
He might just be a catalyst for Lukhanyo Am to earn more space for his corkscrewing potential for raids over the advantage line - although Erasmus may have the odd, lingering concern still over whether the beefy Steyn is suitably conditioned yet for playing the lion’s share of a Test match.
Still, Salta seems the perfect opportunity to put that to a rigorous examination.
While speedy Kwagga Smith had a promising enough outing at open-side flank against the All Blacks, a possible “arm-wrestle” against the Pumas is just as likely, I believe, to convince the Bok coach to restore the considerably more robustly-built Francois Louw to the starting mix in Salta.
The versatile Bath-based stalwart played a superb game (albeit at No 8 then) against the Wallabies, and then made a firm nuisance of himself over the ball once more against the All Blacks in a 12-minute cameo off the splinters.
Then there’s the developing Faf de Klerk/Herschel Jantjies hot potato - a pleasing state of affairs, of course - at scrumhalf.
While I agree with the view that if a World Cup final featuring the Springboks were played tomorrow, the more seasoned figure of De Klerk would be the likeliest first choice and that wunderkind Jantjies’s development needs to be deftly managed, the Salta showdown is not that RWC showpiece.
But in the same breath, isn’t it also an appropriate enough occasion to further the Stormers dynamo’s strides by entrusting him with the starting place for only the second time in his extremely fledgling international career?
The very fact that De Klerk failed concussion-related protocols after a mishap in the Wellington Test also suggests that being nursed back with a more peripheral (bench?) role in Argentina might not be the worst course of action: it is not as though, after 22 Test appearances, we don’t know what the UK-based customer can do.
Fitness-related issues may intervene over the next week and a half, but this is the Bok team (one or two most notably borderline, alternative selections mentioned in brackets) I would choose for Salta:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Frans Steyn (Damian de Allende), 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Herschel Jantjies (Faf de Klerk), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (RG Snyman), 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff (Tendai Mtawarira).
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
