Springboks v Argentina: Everything You Need to Know

The Springboks prepare for their final match before the Rugby World Cup kicks-off, hosting Argentina at Loftus on Saturday afternoon. Before the exciting encounter gets underway though, let’s run through some of the stats and facts that’ll play out or could contribute to the outcome of the battle:

– At 38 years and three months, Schalk Brits will become the oldest player ever to get his first taste of international captaincy in South African rugby history.

– The total number of Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 276 – there are 117 in the backline and 159 amongst the forwards, with a further 82 caps on the bench.

– The average caps per player in the backline is 17, the forwards’ average is 20, while the players on the bench average 13.

– The average age of the starting fifteen is 27.

– At 38 years and three months, Schalk Brits will be the oldest player ever to get his first taste of international captaincy in South African rugby history. However, Brits will be the second oldest captain in Springbok history behind Victor Matfield, who was 38 and 172 days old when he led the South Africa against Los Pumas in the bronze medal match at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Record Watch:

– Elton Jantjies needs four conversions to join Morné Steyn on 15 career conversions against Argentina. He needs to score 22 points to join Handré Pollard (79 points) in second place for most career points against Argentina.

General:

– This will be only the second time in just more than 25 years that the Springboks will host Argentina at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

– The only other Test against Argentina at this venue was five years ago, on 16 August 2014, when Jean de Villiers’ Springboks scraped through in a low-scoring match with a seven point victory (13-6).

– To date, the Boks have played 12 Tests matches against the Pumas on home soil, losing only once in Durban (25-37). Pumas wing, Juan Imhoff, scored three tries in that match to become the first and only player to date to achieve such a feat in this fixture.

Head to head in South Africa:

Played 12 | South Africa won 11; lost 1 | Points for: 465 | Points against: 232 | Tries for: 58 | Tries against: 22 | Win rate: 92%

Team records against Argentina in South Africa:

– Most points: 73 – 17 August, 2013 in Johannesburg.

– Most tries: 9 – 9 August, 2008 in Johannesburg and 17 August, 2013 in Johannesburg.

– Most conversions: 9 – 9 August, 2008 in Johannesburg.

– Most penalty goals: 4 – 28 June, 2013 in Port Elizabeth and 17 August, 2013 in Johannesburg.

Individual records against Argentina in South Africa:

– Most points: 28 – Morné Steyn – 17 August, 2013 in Johannesburg.

– Most tries: 2 – By seven players.

– Most conversions: 9 – Butch James – 9 August, 2008 in Johannesburg.

– Most penalty goals: 4 – Louis Koen – 28 June, 2003 in Port Elizabeth and Morné Steyn – 17 August, 2013 in Johannesburg.

All Test matches against Argentina:

Played 29 | South Africa won 25; lost 3; drawn 1 | Points for: 1,034 | Points against: 576 | Tries for: 123 | Tries against: 54 | Win rate: 86%

Team records:

–Most points: 73 in Johannesburg on 17 August, 2013

– Most tries: 9 in Johannesburg on 9 August, 2008 and on 17 August, 2013

– Most conversions: 9 in Johannesburg on 9 August, 2008

– Most penalty goals: 5 in Mendoza on 24 August, 2013 and in Salta on 10 August, 2019

– Most drop goals: 1 on two occasions (5 November, 2005 and 15 August, 2015) in Buenos Aires.

Individual records:

– Most points: 31 by Handré Pollard (2t, 3c, 5p) in Salta on 10 August, 2019

– Most tries: 2 by fifteen players with the late James Small on two occasions.

– Most conversions: 9 by Butch James in Johannesburg on 9 August, 2008.

– Most penalty goals: 5 by Morné Steyn in Mendoza on 24 August, 2013 and by Handré Pollard in Salta on 10 August, 2019.

– Most drop goals: 1 by each of Bolla Conradie in Buenos Aires on 5 November, 2005 and Patrick Lambie in Buenos Aires on 15 August, 2015

Career records against Argentina:

– Most caps: 17 – Tendai Mtawarira.

– Most tries: Bryan Habana – 8

– Most conversions: Morné Steyn – 15.

– Most penalty goals: Morné Steyn – 18.

– Most points: Morné Steyn – 84.

Match officials:

– The match referee is Luke Pearce of England and this will be his second Test match as a referee with South Africa involved, in his 23rd career Test match.

– The assistant referees are Andrew Brace (Ireland) and Pierre Brousset (France), while Irishman Simon McDowell is the TMO.

Teams:

Springboks –15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Schalk Brits (c), 1 Thomas du Toit.
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Frans Steyn.

Argentina – 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Sebastián Cancelliere, 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 12 Lucas Mensa, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Joaquín Díaz Bonilla, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8 Javier Ortega Desio, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera (c), 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Santiago Medrano, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Mayco Vivas.
Subs: 16 Agustín Creevy, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 23 Santiago Carreras.

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