Boks eye Pumas springboard
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers has targeted the two upcoming Test matches against Argentina as vital to the development of his inexperienced side.
Some may view clashes with the newcomers to the SANZAR competition as an opportunity to cruise and perhaps explore some different options, but the Bok captain has made it clear that his team have plenty of work to do in their first two games against the South American side.
The experienced midfielder is expecting a fierce onslaught from the Pumas in their first match at Newlands next Saturday, and explained that Argentina's intensity will be the perfect test for his side who are keen to build on their series victory over England in June.
He told this website: "The Argentinians have some fantastic players, they have got great skill and big forwards so they are similar to South Africa and it makes for a great game next week.
"We have viewed these two games as maybe the most important in the tournament because they will obviously be psyched up for their introduction into the competition and they will give it everything.
"For us we want to build on what we achieved in the English series, I think we disappointed ourselves a little bit in the last game and we need to get back to that standard of the first 30 minutes in the second Test and that counter-attacking from the first Test and put all of those positives into 80 minutes of rugby," said the Bok skipper.
De Villiers said that although there had been unique difficulties for his side in June, they have no such excuses now with their focus solely on the new four-nation competition.
"In that England series we knew that we would have to go back and finish another tournament in a few weeks time whereas now it is the Rugby Championship all they way, you can concentrate on one competition and put all of your focus on that.
"We have got a week more to prepare this time around, so there were a lot of things that counted against us in that England series but we don't have any excuses now, we have got the time to prepare and we need to be ready," he said.
Convincing performances against Argentina would certainly give the Boks a confidence boost ahead of their trip to Australasia, especially with so many inexperienced players who are still trying to establish themselves at Test level.
De Villiers said that they are determined to gather some momentum by picking the best team available for every match to make a big impression in the early stages of the competition.
"You select your best team available and I think that is the only thing you control. Some guys will be injured at some stage and some guys won't be available but that is just rugby and every team needs to deal with that.
"For us the reality of the matter is that we are a much less experienced team than the one we had last year but there is a massive challenge within that as well," he said.
By Michael de Vries