RUGBY: Jon Swift
IN the height of Cup final fervour, it would be well not to forget that this country is only a week away from the first test against Marcelo Loffreda’s Pumas.
It would be foolish, considering the problems which currently face national coach Kitch Christie, to dismiss the tourists on the basis of South Africa’s series victory in the Argentine.
Clearly, in the convincing 51-20 thumping of the South African Development side in the opening tour game at Wellington this week, the Pumas have shown the pattern they are to adopt.
They have unquestionably learnt — by their own experience and from watching South Africa in action against England and New Zealand — that the faster they move the ball at South Africa, the better chance they have.
Under former coach Ian McIntosh, our game has relied to a major degree on using the forwards as a platform and building from there.
This is well and good when you are assured of forward dominance. Clearly this has not always been the case. And along with this pattern of play has come a tendency to ponderous thinking on the field.
Perhaps the best examples of this were the soft try Will Carling scored in the first test against England by lifting the ball out of the hands of Andre Joubert on the line, and the little tap penalty Rob Andrew took to fly over for a try when everyone was waiting, hands on hips, for him to have a shot at goal.
The Pumas will run at us, there is no doubt about that. Against the Development XV they underlined that fact.
That said though, the Pumas did equally well up front against a side — admittedly all but thrown together — which included such hopefuls for national honours as Tinus Linee, Garry Pagel, Mornay Visser and Harold Karele.
That both penalty tries awarded against the local side came for the offence of collapsing the scrum, also speaks volumes for the intensity of the Argentines in the pack. And interestingly enough, Puma forward power was combined with mobility, with five of the eight tries coming from the forwards, including one each for the front row of Matias Corral, Frederico Mendez and Patricio Noriega.
The Argentines are as mobile as they are welded into a more than workable force up front.
And with the final in Bloemfontein this weekend, Christie’s problems have been aggravated. Vast chunks of his training squad have disappeared under the pressure of provincial commitments.
And the coach has the added headache of possible injury to key players in the clash at Springbok Park to further extend a list of injuries which has bedevilled his preparations.
Clearly, Christie has some thinking to do in the next few days and Boet Erasmus in Port Elizabeth, where the first of the two tests is to be played, will figure large in his thoughts.