In the fifth round of the 2022 Rugby Championship, Argentina vs South Africa will face each other, and Argentina will be the host nation for South Africa. This will be the first meeting of the year between South Africa and Los Pumas, and it will also be the first match played in Argentina since 2019. Both teams come into this competition having tied their respective series against Australia and New Zealand at 1-1 apiece.
Argentina vs South Africa Rugby History
The animosity between the two teams extends back to a time before the first capped test match. The first test was played in 1993, a significant amount of time after Argentina’s journey to South Africa and Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe) in 1965 and the Junior Springboks’ tour to Argentina in 1959.
The Argentina national team has triumphed over South Africa in all three official test matches. These three contests were all part of the Rugby Championship, with the first one taking place in 2015. That happened in Durban, and the victories that followed it were in Salta in 2016 and Mendoza in 2018. Julián Montoya is currently focused on achieving victory in Buenos Aires, which is his hometown.
Argentina Team News
The prop combination that Montoya will use to lead will be different. The young Buck, Thomas Gallo, is replaced by Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro at the loosehead position, and Eduardo Bello gets his maiden test starts at the tighthead position. Tetaz Chaparro has 72 international caps for Argentina, becoming him the country’s most-capped prop player.
When it comes to the second row, size once again has an advantage over speed and lineout jumping. Tomás Lavanini is now playing with Matas Alemanno, with Guido Petti filling in as the replacement. Alongside seasoned players Pablo Matera and Marcos Kremer, Juan Martin González will make his return to the starting lineup in the back row.
Santiago Carreras will be joined in the halves by Gonzalo Bertranou upon his return. Due to a relatively slight injury, the latter player was taken out of the game against New Zealand early. Jerónimo de la Fuente is also back. He will be awarded the 70th cap in his career. He will be one of the four centers that start the game. Juan Cruz Malla will play fullback, and Lucio Cinti will take the flank position. Both de la Fuente and Matas Orlando have shifted positions from where they were previously stationed, inside and outside center, respectively.
South Africa Team News
In the most recent round of the Rugby Championship, South Africa’s lineup remained the same as it was in the previous round. In a match that took place two weeks ago in Australia, the Wallabies defeated the Springboks by a score of 24-8. Siya Kolisi will lead a side similar to the one that competed in the match.
The back row also includes giants Franco Mostert and Jasper Wiese, who are playing with Kolisi. The proper position for Mostert is in the second row. The enormous size of the Springboks pack is highlighted by the fact that he is playing flanker for them. It will be a one-on-one matchup between two of the most significant guys, both of whom will be wearing number 7 shirts. His opponent will be Marcos Kremer.
Jaques Nienaber, the head coach of South Africa, has made three substitutions. Elrigh Louw and Andre Esterhuizen will both get their first shot at playing during the championship, while Faf de Klerk will continue to serve as the backup scrum half for Jaden Hendrikse. Faf de Klerk will also return to his role as the understudy for Jaden Hendrikse.
All details about Argentina vs South Africa Rugby Championship
Date: Saturday, September 17
Kick-Off: 20:10 (CET)
Venue: Estadio Libertadores de América (Buenos Aires, AR)
Stream: Stan and the Nine Network. Also Exclusive is available at FuboTV.
READ MORE: Check All Rugby Series
Argentina vs South Africa Predictable lineup:
ARGENTINA
1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Julián Montoya (capt.), 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Juan Martín González, 7 Marcos Kremer, 8 Pablo Matera, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 10 Santiago Carreras, 11 Lucio Cinti, 12 Matías Orlando , 13 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 15 Juan Cruz Mallía
Replacements: 16 Agustín Kremer, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Rodrigo Bruni, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Benjamín Urdapilleta, 23
SOUTH AFRICA
1 Steven Kitshoff, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Franco Mostert, 8 Jasper Wiese, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 10 Damian Willemse, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Canan Moodie, 15 Willie Le Roux
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Frans Steyn
Prediction
The teams will compete against each other twice, beginning with the match on Saturday. On the following Saturday, the teams will fly across the Atlantic Ocean to go to the second game of the series. Because the Rugby Championship is currently wide open, both teams will be trying to earn points for the competition in Buenos Aires.
