Captain Kolisi outlines what Springboks must do to beat 'desperate' Pumas

South Africa are bracing themselves for a fierce onslaught from Argentina when the two sides meet on Saturday in Mendoza in the second round of the Rugby Championship.

The Springboks defeated the Pumas 34-21 last week in Durban, but Bok skipper Siya Kolisi expects a far more difficult contest this weekend.

“I don’t know how they manage to do it, but they are just a completely other side when they play at home in front of their passionate supporters.

“As an opponent you have to know how desperate they are to win at home, so that will be our challenge tomorrow,” he said.

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Kolisi says he’s happy with the week’s preparations in Argentina.

“We are in a good place, training has gone well and we are looking forward to the big battle tomorrow. Last week was a good start for us but there are obviously a lot of things we can improve on. I must say that our preparations have gone really well here in Argentina.”

“We travelled well after spending an extra day in South Africa, which helped with our recovery.”

The Springboks will be looking to deliver another big physical performance against the home side’s powerful pack.

“We’ve always been known for our physicality (in the past) and it is something which we want to bring back. Last week was a good start and we want to be better this week in that regard.”

The Springboks have made just one change from last week, Franco Mostert comes in at lock, and Kolisi believes that familiarity will help in the forwards.

“The more time we spend together, the better we will get and hopefully this weekend we will improve on what we started last week in Durban.”

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