Zeena Isaacs
23 July 2008
Johannesburg — AFTER being shown up badly against Australia in the final game of their Tri-Nations away leg last week, the Springboks have attached much more significance to their one-off Test against Argentina on August 9 than a tribute to respected former President Nelson Mandela.
The team have targeted the game as the perfect training ground to experiment with a few new moves and settle on player combinations, ahead of what is expected to be an arduous Tri-Nations home leg.
The Springboks come up against New Zealand once and Australia twice on the home leg next month. They need to win all three games to keep alive their title hopes, especially with Australia and New Zealand battling it out in the final game of the series on September 13.
Given Australia's superb second half display last week for their well deserved 16-9 victory - in their opening Tri-Nations game - and New Zealand's determination to avenge their defeat in Dunedin two weekend s ago, the Springboks will have to be at their best to emerge victorious in all three home Tests.
While the Springboks have never lost against Argentina, the visitors are renowned for their fierce pack and they have the necessary firepower in the backline to test the Springboks' defence, meaning that the game should serve as adequate preparation for the Boks' remaining Tri-Nations games.
Springbok forwards coach Gary Gold, who was cautiously optimistic about their hopes of winning the Tri-Nations, said yesterday that the Argentina Test was a blessing in disguise.
"This Test is a big positive for us because it will give us a chance to try out a few new things and get our combinations right before the Test against New Zealand at Newlands," said Gold. "This is a chance for us to gain some confidence, rather than waiting in anticipation for three weeks before the next Test and then being expected to fire instantaneously. If we approach this game with the right attitude, it can assist us tremendously."
Gold had mixed reactions about their Tri-Nations tour and said while they were bitterly disappointed that they had failed to win two games, the team showed encouraging signs for the remainder of the series.
"There were so many positives," said Gold. "Defensively we fared well. We conceded four tries in three games against world-class teams, we made progress in the situational style of play Peter (De Villiers, Springbok coach) would like to implement, and we created several chances to score tries.
"It is now a matter of maintaining some continuity in the things we did well and tweaking the areas of our game we feel need improvement. New Zealand and Australia are going to do their homework and will be looking for ways to outwit us, so we have to do the same."
Gold, however, admitted that no major changes were necessary and said paying more attention to detail and having Lady Luck on their side in the next few games could do the job.
"Our execution must improve because Test rugby is about seizing opportunities," Gold said.
"You get very few chances and you have to convert them into points," he said. We did well to create try-scoring opportunities, which is encouraging. But we failed to finish them off."
The Springboks, however, will also have a better idea of what to expect from Australia and New Zealand at home after having opposed them and watching the Bledisloe Cup matches in the next two weeks.
The Boks reassemble in Pretoria next Wednesday.
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