Springbok captain Siya Kolisi admits that they are ready for whatever Argentina will throw at them on Saturday.

The sides meet in a Rugby Championship clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha in what will be a first game between the sides in nearly two years.

They last met in August 2019 before the Springboks departed for their successful Rugby World Cup journey.

Kolisi said they switched onto Argentina the day after they beat the British and Irish Lions 19-16 at the Cape Town Stadium to clinch a 2-1 series win.

“We celebrated on Saturday, but on Sunday, we already had clips of Argentina and the coaching staff was already prepared,” Kolisi said.

“We’re already on Argentina because they’re a completely different challenge, so we can’t prepare any less than we did before.

“Our training has been really good and we’re looking to adapt to the way that Argentina plays and make sure we get our gameplan going.”

With Argentina having beaten New Zealand away last year, Kolisi is under no illusions of how difficult the Pumas will be.

Kolisi felt they’ve picked their best side, meaning that they’ve got to nail their basics from the onset.

“They have a strong pack and I think they’ve chosen their best side. They’ve got hard ball carriers, so we have to be sharp on a lot of things,” Kolisi said.

“I’m looking forward to what we can do. We can’t focus too much on them. If we can get our stuff right, it doesn’t really matter who we play against.”

 

South Africa

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw (Harlequins, England), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Dan du Preez, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Morne Steyn

Argentina

15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Santiago Chocobares, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Matias Moroni, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Felipe Ezcurra, 8, Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Facundo Isa, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro

Substitutes: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Carlos Muzzio, 18 Santiago Medrano, 19 Tomas Lavanini, 20 Matias Alemanno, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere

 

Original atricle: https://www.news24.com/sport/rugby/rugbychampionship/springboks-siya-kolisi-says-theyre-switched-on-for-the-argentina-challenge-20210814