Springboks seeking improvement in these four areas in Mbombela

With four wins from five matches in this year’s Rugby Championship, the Springboks are poised to win the title in Mbombela on Saturday when they take on Argentina in the final game of the 2024 edition of the competition.

The Boks’ only defeat so far has been against the Pumas, in Santiago last Saturday, so they’ll be keen to make up for that setback with a solid showing in game six.

Coach Rassie Erasmus will want to see an improvement in these four areas from the Boks in Mbombela on Saturday.

Discipline

Argentina, somewhat surprisingly, are the only team to not get a card in this year’s competition; in fact not one of their players has been yellow or red carded in their last 12 Tests. They’ve also conceded the fewest penalties in the Rugby Championship.

By contrast, seven yellow cards have been handed out to Bok players in the Championship so far. New Zealand have received six yellow cards and Australia three.

The Boks have made life difficult for themselves having to regularly play with 14 men. Just last week it was Kurt-Lee Arendse who got binned in the 17th minute, which sparked Argentina into life.

Lineouts

The Boks have for so long been so accurate in their lineout play, but this season they have been found wanting on a number of occasions.

Perhaps it is due to Ruan Nortje being new to the set-up or perhaps it is merely a lack of communication or understanding, but the Boks have fluffed a number of throws or they’ve won poor quality ball.

Bongi Mbonambi has had his ups and down, but Malcolm Marx has in particular struggled to find his jumpers this season and this is an area where the Boks will want to see a big improvement in Mbombela.

Defence

It has been a mixed bag from the world champions during the competition, with them being superb defensively on one day and not so good on another day.

Against the All Blacks in Joburg they let in four tries, but in Cape Town a week later against the same team they didn’t concede a try at all. Then last week in Argentina they let in four tries in a 20-minute spell in the first half to give up all the good work of their fast and strong start.

The Boks won’t want a loose, open game in Mbombela, when the Pumas are at their most dangerous, so they’re going to have to be tight defensively in all areas in their final match.

Kicking

The Boks have also been far from their best from the kicking tee. Manie Libbok missed a fairly simple penalty last week in Santiago to win the game for the world champions, but Handre Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu have also missed kicks this campaign.

Erasmus’ kickers have only managed a 62% success rate with their try conversions and only an 80% success rate with their penalty attempts.

All eyes will be on Libbok, who’s been entrusted to start at No 10 because of his attacking skills, and whoever else handles the kicking duties in Mbombela on Saturday because the Boks simply have to be better in this department.