Boks wary of fiery Pumas

Strongman Eben Etzebeth says the Springboks will not fall into the trap

of allowing experienced Argentine captain Agustín Creevy to unsettle them in the opening match of the Rugby Championship today.

Etzebeth, the lock enforcer and leader of the Bok team, was reacting to questions on possible Argentine tactics ahead of the Port Elizabeth showdown.

“Beast Matawarira has 90 caps and I think he is pretty experienced and I have over 50. So he can try it, but we will just stick to what we know and I don’t think we will allow one guy to unsettle us too match,” Etzebeth said.

In a high stakes clash, cool heads will be needed in the heat of battle against an Argentine outfit who are masters of the unexpected and like to make quick decisions to try and catch the opposition by surprise.

Etzebeth knows the Boks can take a colossal step towards exorcising the ghosts of 2016 by beating a menacing Pumas side in front of an expected 46000 sellout crowd at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today.

Putting pride back in the Springbok jersey is one of coach Allister Coetzee’s main priorities after a woeful campaign which saw his team win only four of their 12 matches last year.

One of those nightmare defeats came against Argentina, who shocked the Boks 26-24 in Salta last year.

Some of the pain of that poor run of results, which also included a shock loss to Italy, was erased earlier this year when South Africa scored a thumping 3-0 series win over France in June.

But, with all due respect to the French team, today’s showdown will provide a much clearer indication of how far South Africa progressed down redemption road.

The Boks have left nothing to chance this time, arriving in Port Elizabeth almost two weeks ahead of the clash which could define how they fare in world rugby’s toughest competition.

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