Boks v Pumas: Golden chance for fringe players to stake claim for All Blacks Tests

A couple of fringe Springboks are set to get a golden opportunity to force their way into South Africa’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) squad, when they take on Argentina in a one-off Test in Buenos Aires next week Saturday. The Springboks are using the game mainly to give a large number of returning stars a run after injuries prevented them from featuring much, or at all, during the Nations Championship games in July. But a few players, such as outside back Edwill van der Merwe and utility back Quan Horn, may have a chance of forcing themselves into the reckoning for the four-Test series against the All Blacks.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus explained at a press briefing on Tuesday that a reduced squad, from the current 44-man group, would be named for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, and that it would only be announced after the match against Argentina. Players such as prop Ox Nche and utility forward Franco Mostert still have question marks hanging over their heads with them in a race against time to prove their fitness, while Erasmus also wants to release a few players to their franchises to face the All Blacks in their tour games. Expected team “We will probably play Krappie (Morné van den Berg) off the bench, and get some more game time into Cobus (Reinach).

Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) will play his first game with Handré (Pollard), depending on who we start,” explained Erasmus. “Ethan (Hooker) is fully fit but hasn’t had much game time, Canan (Moodie) is coming back from a niggle. A guy like Edwill will probably get a run.

We will play (Aphelele) Fassi again, with Quan Horn maybe off the bench. “So that’s what we are looking at … giving guys who are coming back from injury, and guys that haven’t really had a proper opportunity a chance.” Erasmus explained that just because some players get released back to their franchise doesn’t mean that they won’t be in the running to play for the Boks against the All Blacks, and that it was still all to play for, for most of the players currently in the Bok mix. “In the same breath we want to make some guys who won’t be in the running for the first Test (of RGR) available to play for their franchise against the All Blacks,” said Erasmus.

“Guys can play themselves in (the squad) if some guys don’t do well in Argentina, some guys are not 100% fit and (if) some guy’s shine (for their franchise) against the All Blacks (the…