Tight tussle against Argentina gave Springboks a Rugby World Cup taster

Jacques Nienaber believes the Springboks battling display against Argentina served as proper preparation for the World Cup because it the type of arm-wrestle the team will encounter at the tournament.

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The Springboks had to rely on monstrous defence to carry them through a sustained attacking onslaught from Argentina when they spent long periods penned in their own half in the second half on the way to securing a second victory in the truncated Rugby Championship.

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COACH LAUDS SPRINGBOKS DEFENCE

Nienaber praised his team for not buckling under the pressure after the yellow carding of Damian de Allende (for a deliberate knock on) with seven minutes remaining.

The Pumas scored their two tries in that period, but the second (to close the winning margin to one point) came long after the siren had sounded.

“We’re going to experience similar situations at the World Cup and to manage it in the way that Duane [Vermeulen] did at the end with the yellow card was very good,” said Nienaber.

“The amount of attitude the players had in defence was outstanding; the amount of attitude they had in their ball carrying was outstanding. We made a couple of mistakes with tactical and technical stuff but that the easy stuff we can fix.

“But making it personal with the defence and the ball carrying is what I was incredibly proud of. It wasn’t the nicest game, but it was good to grind out the win.”

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NIENABER DEMANDS CONSISTENCY

Nienaber added that he expected the team’s performances to become more consistent once the squad became more settled.

“The easiest way to get cohesiveness is in team selection and that’s probably where we put the team under pressure,” he said.

“Every week they’ve had a different prop, a different hooker, a different rhythm so that’s almost the nice thing, as we take them out their rhythm because of the way we have chopped and changed in terms of team selection, and as we get closer to the World Cup there will definitely be more consistency in selection.”

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EVERY PLAYER WILL GET A SHOT BEFORE THE RWC

However, he said that opportunities would be provided to players who had yet to feature prominently in the season.

“On Tuesday we said if we can get a victory tonight it would be nice to make some changes,” he said.

“The main things for us, is to spread the load and make sure that we are match fit and match ready and everyone has had some minutes and been under pressure before we leave for the World Cup.

“We said from the outset that Argentina are tough team and they proved that today. That said, I am pleased with the way the players ground out the result.”

THE SPRINGBOKS BEFORE THE GAME AGAINST THE PUMAS