Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus is not taking Argentina lightly despite the odds being stacked up against Los Pumas to win the Rugby Championship.

South Africa require just one log point to clinch a first Rugby Championship title since 2019 – a truncated tournament – but Erasmus is wary of the prospect that his charges could still fall short to the brilliant Pumas.

Argentina have been the real surprise package of the tournament this year as for the first time since joining the competition in 2012, they have defeated the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks.

This has left Felipe Contepomi’s side with an outside chance of winning the Rugby Championship for the first time but it will be no easy task as they need to beat the Springboks in Nelspruit and convincingly.

Not writing off Argentina

They will need to score three tries more than the back-to-back world champions and beat the Boks by more than seven points.

Despite the mammoth task, Erasmus believes that Argentina could still produce one more epic upset.

“It’s definitely possible, our team has shown that many things are possible when the odds are against you and Argentina is very a similar country to us,” Erasmus said when asked if he thinks Los Pumas could win the tournament.

The Bok boss added that the two teams are somewhat on a similar playing field despite the clash being in South Africa due to the tournament’s format.

Knowing that both teams were on an even playing field in terms of travel, Erasmus left seven Springboks in South Africa in order to be fresh for the Rugby Championship finale, a tactic which resulted in defeat in South America, but one he hopes will still pay dividends this weekend.

Springboks science

“We always play one another at the end of the Rugby Championship and when you play home first and then fly with the team back you don’t really get the benefit of jetlag and time zones and that kind of thing,” he added.

“They get the same stress and tiredness or whatever would affect them too, so the way we try to counter that is by sending guys over there hoping and trying to beat them with that team. We got a bonus point – we would have loved the win.

“But now we are hoping that our chances are much better with six fresh guys in this side who didn’t play and also Eben [Etzebeth] who didn’t play a full match on that side and Siya Kolisi who would be fairly fresh.

There is a bit of science behind it but by all means, we do believe Argentina can do it and that’s what we would have to stop.”

South Africa will be aiming to bounce back from the defeat to Los Pumas last time out as they not only bid to win the tournament but also celebrate Eben Etzebeth’s record-breaking appearance in style.

The clash in Nelspruit also marks the Boks’ final home match of the year as they next head North where they will face Scotland, England and Wales.