Championship title beckons for motivated Boks in Santiago del Estero showdown

The high-riding Springboks will win yet another trophy if they beat Argentina in Saturday night’s Rugby Championship match in the northern city of Santiago del Estero.

The World Cup winners nailed the Freedom Cup earlier this month when they won back-to-back matches against the All Blacks, and they now have a golden opportunity to win their first Championship title since 2019.

The Boks have twice beaten Australia and New Zealand, and are unbeaten at the top of the Championship log.

But they can be overhauled by Los Pumas if the latter beat the Boks on Saturday night (11pm SA time kick-off), and also in the return match at Mbombela next week.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has said that his team are determined to snuff out the threat of the Pumas on Saturday night, and have next week’s game as a celebratory fixture, with the title in the bag.

“Argentina are a force to be reckoned with at home, and they’ll be even more charged up for this match, knowing that a bonus-point victory or victory could keep them in the race for their first ever title, so we know they will not give us an inch,” Erasmus said.

“They are a quality team with strong forwards and talented backs, and they like to keep the ball alive, so we need to be accurate in every aspect of our game and deny them from stamping their authority, but rather enforcing our style of play on them.

“Our players understand the importance of this match in every respect.

“We have no doubt it’s going to be epic and could come down to the wire, but we live for these moments as a team, and hopefully we can deliver on what we set out to do and get the desired result.”

Record equalling Bok Bruiser

Regardless of the outcome, the fixture will bring Bok bruiser Eben Etzebeth level with legend Victor Matfield on 127 Springbok caps.

Matfield has been the most-capped Bok for some time, but Etzebeth, who is also a lock, will win his 127th cap tomorrow and is likely to win many more.

Flyhalf Handré Pollard, who will be the Bok vice-captain in tomorrow’s clash in Argentina – with Salmaan Moerat the skipper in place of the rested Siya Kolisi – praised the 32-year-old Etzebeth.

“What Eben’s doing – and I would say going to be doing forward, because he’s not stopping anytime soon – is unbelievable,” Pollard said this week.

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“Playing at this level, to get 50 games is special. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment. To get to 100 is just unbelievable, and to do what he’s doing is something that we’ve never seen in the past.

“I am very, very proud to be associated with Eben. He is one of the ultimate Springboks ever. He loves the Springboks, maybe just second to his family.

“His work-rate, work ethic, week-in and week-out... He is always training hard, always helping the team, always putting the team first.

“It takes a special person to do that. If he equals it this weekend and breaks it next week in (Mbombela), it will be a very special day.”

Matfield stated recently: “Eben can go on past 150 caps. I cannot think of a better player to beat my record.

“Eben is the best player to have played for the Springboks. I cannot think of anybody else who has had Eben’s combination of brutal strength and athleticism.”