Felipe Contepomi: Argentina want to give Springboks 'a good run for their money'

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi refuses to get carried away by his team’s giant-killing acts this year, insisting the Pumas are taking their evolution one match at a time.

Contepomi spoke to the media at the Pumas’ Durban hotel yesterday evening and, in many ways, his rugby philosophy echoed that of his South African counterpart Rassie Erasmus.

When asked what it would mean to Argentina to win the Rugby Championship, he replied: “You are thinking too far ahead. We have one more training session before Saturday’s game against the double world champions, and we are sharpening the knife so that it is ready for game day. That is my only focus at the moment.

“Our main thing is to improve each training session, to be better than the previous one,” the former Pumas flyhalf said. “We are happy with our progress, but there is still plenty we can work on.

“The big thing for me is the attitude of the squad. The guys are unbelievable. We have been on tour for a long time (the Pumas came straight to South Africa after three weeks in Australia), and even those who haven’t played a single minute are totally committed. That is the unselfishness we are looking for.

“It is about how you behave every day, on and off the pitch,” Contepomi said.

Little wonder the Pumas are in good nick this season, having bagged the scalps of New Zealand, Australia, and the British and Irish Lions. Now they have the Springboks sweating, with Erasmus admitting he is “uneasy” about the quality of the Argentine team.

“For us, it is a massive challenge to come here to face the double world champions on their home ground. It is never going to be easy,” Contepomi said.

“We respect the fact that South Africa is the number one team in the world at the moment. Having said that, we are here to compete. We have prepared according to the challenge the Springboks present.

“We would like to think that we can give them a good run for their money. We like to face a big challenge; we are a high-performance team, and as such, you want to test yourself against the best.

“It has been a good year so far, but that is in the past. We have made plenty of mistakes this season, and even in the games where we beat top teams, we have not been as good as we could have been.

“We are trying to get better week in and week out. We believe in each other. We are chasing cohesion, and we compete against each other in training as much as we compete against the opposition.”

Those words could easily have been spoken by a Springbok. Clearly, the two teams share similar playbooks.

Contepomi has recalled former captain Pablo Matera to the No 6 jersey after he featured off the bench in Sydney during the Pumas’ win two weeks ago.

The other changes come in the second row, with Lucas Paulos and Franco Molina replacing Pedro Rubiolo and Guido Petti.

Contepomi has also opted for a six-two split on the bench, which sees flyhalf Tomás Albornoz returning to the match 23. Locks Rubiolo and Petti, along with loose forward Juan Martín González, will provide cover among the replacements.

Argentina team to play the Springboks

15 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo García, 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 Mayco Vivas.

Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Juan Martín González, 22 Simón Benítez Cruz, 23 Tomás Albornoz.