BUENOS AIRES, Aug 9 (Reuters) – South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus said Saturday’s tough game against Argentina helped get the team, which has been beset by injuries, back into shape to face the All Blacks.
The Springboks edged out a 17-10 win at Vélez Sarsfield over their hosts as they welcomed back a raft of players who had been sidelined but who they hope to have ready for the four-test series against New Zealand, which starts in a fortnight.
“We had seven or eight guys who’d played almost no minutes over the last six, seven weeks, so I always thought it was going to be disjointed.
“We just had to get a lot of players through some match fitness,” Erasmus said.
One was captain Siya Kolisi, who had been suffering from a hamstring injury and went off after 25 minutes with a similar setback, but World Cup-winning locks Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth both impressed, and Cobus Reinach was back along withSacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the important halfback pairing.
Erasmus said he did not feel the match was in any way preparation for the upcoming clash against the All Blacks, but rather an exercise in getting players match fit.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a good practice, honestly, because Argentina plays a different style (to New Zealand), and it’s very intimidating in the stadium here. Obviously, it wasn’t pretty. Obviously, it wasn’t perfect, but that we expected.
“They (Argentina) play a very similar style of physical game as us, and we’ve always struggled to get over them physically. I thought that our defence was good, and our discipline was relatively good. Obviously, there are things on our attack which we have to sort out.
“So over the next two weeks, we’ll have to look at our injuries, and then we’ll pick the team that we hope can try and win against New Zealand in the first test match,” Erasmus added.
The All Blacks are on an eight-match tour of South Africa. The first test is in Johannesburg on August 22.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
