Temper expectations of another rout as Boks zero in on title at Twickenham

There are obvious expectations of another rout for the Springboks when they meet Argentina in the final game of the Rugby Championship at Twickenham on Saturday, but the elusive target of a full 80-minute performance is perhaps more important for Siya Kolisi’s team.

Having hammered the Pumas 67-30 last weekend in Durban to leave themselves on the verge of defending the southern hemisphere title, there are many who will expect the South Africans to produce a similar scoreline in London.

But the ability of the Argentinians to bounce back from disappointment and difficulty in immediately replicating a performance where you have touched the highest levels of skill, count against a similarly huge winning margin.

Golfers often speak of how hard it is to back up a very low round with another one the next day. This has obvious parallels for flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, whose magnificent record-breaking 37-point haul at Kings Park was the equivalent of shooting a 59 in golf.

This is not to say either Feinberg-Mngomezulu or the Springboks should expect to have a poor game. Argentina will obviously come up with a plan for their chief tormentor in Durban. The usual wisdom says put a couple of tough loose forwards on him all afternoon (and Argentina have two of the meanest in Marcos Kremer and Pablo Matera) and then see if he can bobby dazzle.

But the extra attention on Feinberg-Mngomezulu will create space and opportunity elsewhere, and this game could be a great chance for the 23-year-old to show how effective he is in creating openings for others.

The Springboks can do exactly what they did in the second half in Durban, but this does not mean they must expect it to work from the outset. They will have to build an innings, create pressure, because the floodgates are unlikely just to open in the first few minutes.

This is also because the Pumas are likely to change the way they play. Their coach, Felipe Contepomi, is rightfully proud of what they have achieved this season in terms of growing their own attacking game; they have proven to be lethal on counter-attack and their backline can move the ball beautifully and clinically.

But no team wants to suffer two successive blowouts especially to end a competition that held so much promise for Argentina. Contepomi will be telling his forwards to front up and turn Twickenham into a torrid battle for metres at close quarters. It may be considered damage control, but by playing a little more conservatively, focusing on territory and possession, the Pumas probably give themselves the best chance of a shock victory.

There is a huge South African community in London who will be attending, with ticket sales having already reached 60,000 by mid-week. While they will no doubt be looking to Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse to provide spectacular entertainment, victory will once again be set up by the pack.

The backs cannot produce their magic without the front-foot ball that their forwards obtain from set-pieces, at the breakdown and in the collisions. As a unit, the Springbok pack has been outstanding in the last two games and they look suspiciously like South Africa’s first-choice eight, even though coach Rassie Erasmus stated this week that the side as a whole “is definitely not our first-choice team”.

There is such experience, power, physicality, athleticism, toughness, speed and just brute strength within that starting pack, and then the likes of Wilco Louw, surely the best tighthead in the world right now, the tremendously talented Jan-Hendrik Wessels, returning stalwart Bongi Mbonambi, offload king RG Snyman and the explosive Kwagga Smith come on in the second half!

Despite the hefty winning margins of 43-10 and 67-30 in their last two outings, in both matches the Springboks were slow starters. It’s not that they are playing within themselves but rather the little inaccuracies that are momentum-stealers.

They perhaps set out to do too much too early, such is their confidence, but it would be very pleasing for all concerned if they don’t just win the Rugby Championship title again this weekend, but finish the campaign with 80 consistent minutes of excellence, whatever the final margin of victory.