After securing a resounding 67-30 win over Argentina last weekend, the Springboks currently lead the Rugby Championship standings by one point going into Saturday’s match, knowing that victory will enable them to retain their title.
The Springboks have Thursday off to rest and prepare mentally for the clash and will wrap up their preparations on Friday with their official captains run.
Saturday’s match kicks off at 15:00 (in South Africa) and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
HERE IS ALL THE KEY INFORMATION FOR THE SPRINGBOKS’ ‘REMATCH’ AGAINST ARGENTINA
TEAMS
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Jesse Kriel.
Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Justo Piccardo, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Juan Cruz Mallia, 10 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 9 Simon Cruz Benitez, 8 Santiago Grondona, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Juan Gonzalez, 21 Joaquín Oviedo, 22 Agustin Moyano, 23 Rodrigo Isgro.
Date: Saturday, October 4
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 15.00 (SA time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
HOW THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP LOG LOOKS AFTER BOKS’ LATEST WIN
- In the event of two or more teams being equal on competition points for any position on the competition table, such position shall be determined by the team with the most wins in the series. If the Springboks win on Saturday, no other team will have more victories during the tournament (Australia or New Zealand might reach four wins for the competition, but so would the Springboks).
- In the event of (a) above not providing a decision, the position on the competition table will be determined by the team with the most wins against the other team/s tied on the same points. The Springboks have already got a win over each team, so this is unlikely to be a tie breaker.
- In the event of (b) above not providing a decision, the position on the competition table will be determined on the margin of points scored for and against in the series. The team with the highest margin of points scored for and against being considered as the winner. In this regard, the Springboks do have a vastly superior points difference.
- In the event of (c) above not providing a decision, the position on the competition table will be determined on the margin of points scored for and against by those competing teams. The team with the highest margin of points scored for and against being considered as the winner.
- In the event of (d) above not providing a decision, the position on the competition table will be determined on the basis of the team scoring most tries in the series.
Stats and facts:
Springbok record against Argentina
Played 39; Won 34; Lost 4; Drawn 1; Points for: 1 382, Points against: 757; Tries scored 164, Tries conceded 73; Highest score 73-13; Biggest winning margin 60 points. Win % 87.1%.
Miscellaneous:
- The Springboks have won 11 of their last 13 matches against the Pumas, dating back to 2018, with their only two defeats being in Argentina, in Santiago Del Estero (last season) and in Mendoza (in 2018).
- The teams have crossed paths in London only once before, in the bronze final of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with the Boks winning the match 24-13 at the Olympic Stadium.
- Siya Kolisi will play his 98th Test match, leaving him only two games short of becoming the ninth Springbok centurion in the history of the game.
- Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok of all time to 138 Tests when he takes the field on Saturday.
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Jesse Kriel have both scored 95 Test points and require only five to make it to 100 in the green and gold.
- The total Test caps in the Springbok starting line-up are 797. There are 264 caps in the backline, with 533 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 343 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 38, the forwards 67, while the players on the bench average 43.
