Boks expect busy game in Championship decider against Argentina

South African rugby’s speedsters, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, expect that they will be busier than usual when the Springboks take on Argentina in the Rugby Championship decider in Mbombela on Saturday.

And it’s in defence that the two wings will have their hands full against a Pumas side whose recent success has been built on running the ball from side to side.

Mbombela is setting the stage for an epic end to this year’s championship and the Springboks are looking to reward fans after last week’s disappointment in Argentina.

There were several negatives for the Boks in that game but the one that is most talked about is Manie Libbok’s missed kick in the dying seconds which would have won the game for the Springboks. He starts at flyhalf, but the goal-kicking duties might fall on somebody else’s shoulders.

Cheslin Kolbe says he’s been working on it this season and if he’s required to take over the goal-kicking duties, he will approach it in the same way as any other request from the coaching staff.

“I think sevens helped me quite a bit with the lineout throwing and I actually didn’t believe when the coaches came to me and they had a plan for the lineouts and as long as I’m confident to do a job for the team and it’s positive for the team and I try and work on it every week during training.”

Kurt-Lee Arendse received a yellow card in last week’s game, and he feels that was one of the negatives and a huge turning point. Argentina scored 14 unanswered points with him in the sin bin. And he wants to make up for it.

“Argentina played really well. We know that they like to run the ball, and we expect them to do the same this weekend and rectify where we did wrong last weekend,” says Arendse.

The Springboks can win the Rugby Championship even if they lose on Saturday, but the team is not thinking about that at all, and a victory is the only acceptable result.