Three key areas of focus for Nienaber, Bok players in Buenos Aires

The Springboks will be targeting an improved performance in their World Cup warm-up match against Los Pumas in Buenos Aires on Saturday night, after they just managed to escape with a tight win against the same opponents at Ellis Park last week.

It is, however, a different team doing business in Argentina, featuring a number of fringe players and being led by hooker Bongi Mbonambi for the first time.

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But it is also the last chance for players to impress ahead of the team’s World Cup squad announcement next Tuesday.

Coach Jacques Nienaber will thus be hoping to see a number of improvements from the past weekend’s match. Here are the three boxes he’ll want ticked off this weekend.

Better breakdown performance from the loosies

Although the Boks had a decent showing at the breakdown in the past weekend’s game, it was the front row forwards doing all of the hard yards. Prop Steven Kitshoff made two vital turnovers, while hooker Malcolm Marx also made a massive steal, with all three coming on their own tryline on defence, which played a big part in them winning the match.

But the loose trio were not as prevalent and Nienaber will hope to see the loose trio doing the work this weekend.

It is a completely different back three from last weekend, but Deon Fourie in the No 6 jersey will be tasked with getting his hands on the ball, while the big bruisers Franco Mostert and Jasper Wiese will need to keep things tidy around him.

Better showing from Bok regulars

This will be just the second match so far this season for a number of Bok regulars who put in an underwhelming performance in their first game against New Zealand Down Under. Franco Mostert, Jasper Wiese and Makazole Mapimpi will all be desperate to put in a better showing than they did against the All Blacks.

Mapimpi will be very aware that his starting berth is massively under pressure from the in-form Kurt-Lee Arendse, while Wiese will also be looking over his shoulder at Duane Vermeulen, who has been immense so far this season.

Although Mostert knows he won’t be a regular starter at the World Cup, he may be a bit worried about strong showings from some of the fringe players and will want to secure his spot with a big performance.

Final play to be part of the Bok back-up brigade

Earlier this week Nienaber admitted that along with the Boks’ final 33-man squad for the World Cup, they will be naming five back-up players who will be traveling with the group and will be on stand-by in the event of an injury in the early parts of the tournament.

Nienaber explained that in the 2019 World Cup they had to call-up two players after the first game, so they are preparing for if a similar thing were to happen in this year’s event.

Fringe players such as Jean-Luc du Preez, Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies and Andre Esterhuizen, who will likely not make the World Cup squad, will thus been gunning to be included in this group. Only two out of Marvin Orie, Jean Kleyn, Deon Fourie and Joseph Dweba are likely to make the main squad as well, so they will also want to impress so that they can drop into that group.