Powerful Bok team for Argentina sends strong message to waiting All Blacks

As flexes go, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’ selection to face Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday was straight from a bodybuilding contest.

Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will start against the Pumas after having all missed the Boks’ opening three Tests of the season. Morné van den Berg, another who has featured this season, is on the bench.

Others who have only played a handful of minutes for the Boks in 2026 - such as Ethan Hooker, André Esterhuizen, Canan Moodie and Cobus Reinach - are back as well.

While Erasmus has been careful to keep minds focused on the match against the Pumas, there is no doubt that his selections are also intended to send a message to the All Blacks in Cape Town.

It’s almost as if Erasmus is saying: “Look at the depth we have. We can choose nine World Cup winners and a host of back-to-back Rugby Championship winners for a one-off Test in Argentina while we have 18 more quality players preparing back in South Africa.”

Nine of the team to start against Argentina also started in Wellington last year when the Boks beat the All Blacks 43-10, sending another little jab in the direction of New Zealand.

Of course, this is also an examination to ascertain the readiness of the likes of Etzebeth and De Jager in particular. Are they ready, or at least on track to face New Zealand down the line after both missing months of action?

The veteran second rowers are among the greatest to have played the game, but there are quality locks making their own mark in the Boks set-up. Nothing is guaranteed, so those two old warhorses will have a point to prove. But neither will play the full 80 minutes.

Kolisi and Feinberg-Mngomezulu have both played more recently and are in no need to prove their credentials. The clash against the Pumas is about shaking off the rust with a view to sterner challenges to come.

Ditto for Van den Berg, Esterhuizen and Moodie. Barring more injury, they will all feature in the Greatest Rivalry series.

“We are going the route of rotating [the squad] and keeping guys fresh,” Erasmus said. Hopefully in the crunch matches, when it gets to Greatest Rivalry time, then hopefully we peak.”

Perfect timing

The Test against the Pumas comes at a perfect time for the Boks. It’s two weeks before the first of four consecutive Tests against the All Blacks, leaving adequate time for recuperation and recovery.

Victory is the obvious objective because it would continue the Boks’ formidable momentum, which sees them on an 11-Test winning streak.

But defeat is not a calamity as this match has many objectives, of which getting key players through a stern challenge sits only fractionally behind winning on the to-do list.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s performance will be keenly watched because he has shown that he has the potential to turn an entire match on its head with his outrageous skill and vision.

This will be his first outing following a serious ankle injury sustained playing for the Stormers against Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship (URC) in May.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu admitted that initially he despaired, with the thought of missing the Greatest Rivalry series hard to contemplate. Yet, here he is, on the cusp of playing himself into the upcoming series.

“No injury is nice. But in addition, to get taken out of the Stormers’ URC campaign and not be able to help my team was frustrating,” he said from Buenos Aires.

“And then obviously the Springbok equation was even more frustrating. But I had Andy [Edwards], our strength and conditioning coach, on the phone regularly. And I spoke to a few people and moved forward.

“I’m not really one to dwell. I just kind of used the time to look at rugby from a more technical aspect and develop areas of my game that I probably didn’t have time to do before.

“It felt disastrous when the injury happened. But I just made the most of the time off.”

While Feinberg-Mngomezulu is obviously a generational talent, the way the Boks function means that he won’t play every game, even when fully fit and in fantastic form.

Handré Pollard is on the bench and will feature at some stage.

It’s a tactic that Erasmus has used brilliantly as he constantly rotates players to keep them fresh and engaged.

“I don’t think people understand how much we help each other [in the Bok camp],” Feinberg-Mngomezulu said.

“I mean, today, Handré is telling me about the dimensions of the field and how close the stands are to the pitch. We really take good care of each other, and there’s massive amounts of respect.

“And also, one must never forget, even though I’m growing and this is going to be my 20th cap on Saturday, I still have the utmost respect for Handré Pollard and what he’s done for the country and for this team. Not for a second will I see him as competition. He’s my mentor.”

Game model

While winning and putting some minutes into key players are the two primary goals against the Pumas, Erasmus is looking far deeper than that.

There are clear plans and tactics that will be trialled and tested in Argentina that will be used and built upon against the All Blacks later this month.

“I don’t think the margin of winning, if we do win, is the important thing,” Erasmus said.

“Some guys are not really settled in the team, guys like Cameron [Hanekom] and Elrigh [Louw] and others with nine caps and two caps and so on.

“So, I guess the thing that will happen on Saturday is that it won’t be perfect, but if we get better and we’re growing our game, building our game plan, and we’re getting more in sync, hopefully then the score will go our way.

“But apart from returning players from injury, getting some match fitness into some guys, and trying to win, I would say the only other thing that I can probably wish for is that we really grow our game and get a little bit better in each department.” DM

Team:

South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter
Reserves: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Morné van den Berg, 23 Handré Pollard.