Lood de Jager

The Springboks made three changes to their starting XV, with two of them effecting the line-out structures – which already appeared weak in Pretoria last week.

The line-out has long been a strength of the Boks, and a lot of this dominance in the set pieces can be attributed to the maestro that is Victor Matfield.

The veteran lock was sorely missed last weekend when the Boks’ line-out struggled, in albeit poor conditions, against the Argentineans at Loftus Versfeld.

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Matfield will not be on hand this time round either, with Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer opting to put his line-out faith in the untried trio of Eben Etzebeth, Lodedwyk de Jager and veteran flank Juan Smith.

“There are three new guys in the line-outs who haven’t played together,” Meyer said after naming his match-day squad for Saturday.

“It is a huge challenge, because it is a short turn around and we don’t have a lot of time to train in the line-outs.”

“I still was not happy with line-outs yesterday [Tuesday] in training – so it is frustrating, but I have to look at the positives.”

One of the positives that Meyer is finding is that he is getting a chance to blood new players and test combinations heading into the World Cup in England next year.

“We are now building an unbelievably good squad for the World Cup,” Meyer said brightly.

“It is going to be very difficult to pick 30 players.”

Meyer has stated that the Springboks’ line-outs last week were poor, putting it down the the scarcity of a No 5 [line-out calling] lock.

“I was not happy with our line-outs [last weekend] – it was my first criticism when we watched the game back,” the coach continued.

“I have always said we are struggling at No 5 lock and even through Lodewyk [De Jager] is an unbelievable player, you can see when Victor [Matfield] is not there we need some experience.”

Meyer has opted to provide the line-out experience from veteran flank Juan Smith who is making an unbelievable comeback to rugby.

“Juan Smith is a very good line-out option, very experienced,” Meyer said.

“This gives us a chance to see what Eben, Lood and Juan can do together in the line-outs.”

De Jager will be pairing up with Etzebeth for the first time with these youngsters touted as the future for the Springbok second row.

“This will also be the first time these two youngsters [De Jager and Etzebeth] play together and although Lood is still a No.4 lock I think he will be a brilliant No.5 lock and I can’t wait to see him go with Eben.”

“We need good line-out ball, we score a lot of our tries from line-outs, and last week we were not happy.”

“We need to make a step up there,” the coach concluded.

South Africa will be confronted by 20,000-odd hostile Argentineans when they arrive at the Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena in Salta on Saturday.

The Pumas have made no secret of the fact that they are hoping for some “strong” home support in the return match against the Springboks on Saturday, following their heartbreaking 6-13 loss in monsoon-like conditions in Pretoria last week.

Argentina have always produced a much-improved performance on home soil, since their introduction into the Rugby Championship in 2012.

They lost their first encounter (at Newlands in Cape Town) 6-27, but bounced back to draw 16-all in Mendoza a week later – in a game all credible experts agree the Boks were fortunate escape with a tie.

Last year the Boks ran up a record 73-13 win in Soweto, but again escaped with a fortuitous 22-17 win in Mendoza.

Last week’s 13-6 win at Loftus Versfeld did not inspire confidence among the disgruntled Bok fans and now they will be faced with the vociferous local crowd in Salta.

Powerful tighthead prop Ramiro Herrera said they are “eager” to improve on last week’s fine showing.

Despite the long haul back home, after a 10-day trip to South Africa, they are very happy to be back home.

“We are now in our country, with our family and [we have] the public on our side,” Herrera said, adding: “That influences [the game] a lot.”

He said they will be buoyed by the strong home support and it will be “very nice” to play at home.

“Most of us [in the team] were new to the tournament [Rugby Championship], a bit nervous to be playing in a game of such this magnitude.”

“With the experience of a match under our belts we will be a lot more comfortable [this week].”

He said they will work hard in training this week to ensure they can produce an improved performance against a very powerful Springbok team.

The interest in the game was evident in the large crowd that attended Argentina’s first training run on home soil on Tuesday.

Wing Manuel Montero echoed similar sentiments to the prop forward, saying this Saturday will be a tougher Test, as the Boks would not have been satisfied with their showing at Loftus.

“People have been very supportive of us and we ask that they continue to believe in this group,” Montero said.