South Africa will use their one-off test against Argentina on August 8 to give minutes to a host of players who have returned from injury in recent weeks as they build towards their crunch four-game home series against New Zealand starting next month.
The Springboks won all three of their home fixtures in the Nations Championship against England, Scotland and Wales, doing so without a core group of experience players.
They will travel to Argentina without prop Ox Nche and lock/loose-forward Franco Mostert, but for several other double World Cup winners, it is a chance for game time.
Captain Siya Kolisi, locks Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, and flyhalf Handre Pollard are all expected to travel and play.
The likes of mercurial flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and utility backs Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie are also likely to be back in the mix.
“We will pick a team to try and beat Argentina, but there is a much bigger plan like most countries have now with the Rugby World Cup in the background,” Erasmus told reporters on Tuesday.
“We must start making plans to make sure we know what our World Cup squad looks like. But a four test series against New Zealand is long and you don’t want top peak in the first game.
“I don’t think any of us think one team is going to beat the other 4-0. It’s going to be much tougher than that.”
But before that is the spectre of Argentina in Buenos Aires, a team that have caused the four-times world champions plenty of problems in the past.
“I see they have picked a squad with 10 rookies in there, but if you look at their first choice team, they will definitely have more caps than our players,” Erasmus said.
“There’s a core of 15 guys that are really experienced who they can fall back on.”
The Springboks will name their touring squad for the game in Argentina on Saturday.
–Reuters–
