‘Argentina will be desperate to beat us,’ says Boks’ Kwagga Smith

Springbok loose forward dynamo Kwagga Smith says the team are champing at the bit to possibly seal the Rugby Championship title when they take on Argentina at the Estadio Unico Madre Ciudades Stadium in Santiago on Saturday.

However, despite their comfortable lead on the Rugby Championship log, and with a final game to go in Mbombela next weekend, Smith admits that they won’t be looking too far ahead as they know the danger the hosts will pose this weekend.

It has been an up and down competition for Los Pumas so far, with them picking up a stunning 38-30 win over the All Blacks in New Zealand and a huge 67-27 record win over the Wallabies at home in their last game out.

But they have also gone down against both opponents, hammered 42-10 by the All Blacks in their second game in New Zealand, and edged 20-19 by Australia in their first match at home.

Whether the Boks are given a run for their money this weekend could thus come down to which Argentinian side turns up on the day, as it could be a walk in the park for them, or a proper slog to see who comes out on top.

“For us, it’s a huge opportunity to win the Rugby Championship but we can’t look too far ahead,” explained Smith.

“But it’s going to be a tough competition this weekend because Argentina is also in the running to win the competition for the first time, so they’ll be really desperate.

“They have proven that they can beat any side with their victories against Australia and New Zealand, so we certainly cannot go out there with the mindset that we can just pitch up and win.”

Plenty of confidence

With four wins on the trot, two coming against their biggest rivals, the All Blacks, you would be forgiven for thinking the Boks would head into the game against Argentina with plenty of confidence.

But Smith said that they had taken some good learnings out of their wins against New Zealand and that they still had to be careful and play as a team if they wanted to triumph over the hosts, who will likely field a battled-hardened and grizzled team.

“After playing the All Blacks twice we got a few learnings. Defensively, we wanted to stop momentum better after the first Test (in Joburg), and in the second Test, we lost a lot of ball at the breakdown,” said Smith.

“(Pablo) Matera and the boys are really good players and have been in the system a long time. That’s something they will bring to the game, that experience, and they’re Argentinians so will be really passionate.

“We need to rock up physically and do our jobs, and play as a team. If you fall into a trap and play as individuals you’ll be in trouble.”