Frans Malherbe will miss the rest of the Rugby Championship after sustaining a serious injury to his right ankle in Salta.

Malberbe helped to stabilise the Bok scrum when he replaced Jannie du Plessis in the 46th minute, but was forced to leave the field in the 79th.

The tighthead prop will consult with a specialist in Cape Town upon his return to South Africa, when a call on further treatment and his replacement will be made.

Meanwhile, Bok captain Jean de Villiers praised the impact made by the South African replacements as they recorded a hard-fought 33-31 win.

With 20 minutes to go, the hosts led 28-16, but tries in the final quarter by right wing Cornal Hendricks and replacement flank Marcell Coetzee swung the tide in the Springboks’ favour. Replacement flyhalf Morné Steyn then kicked a late penalty goal to snatch victory.

'That is not saying that the players who started did badly, but our bench, whom we see as impact players rather than replacements, certainly made an impact today and that is probably where the difference was,' said De Villiers.

Meyer said his team had shown great character to pull this one through.

'We don’t want to say every week that we’ve shown great character, but we’ve now won nine out of our last 10 away games and I think the guys have shown that they know how to win. At one stage, we were down and out and the team came back. We know there are a lot of areas we have to work on, but we’re still in this competition.'

The Springboks will return to South Africa on Monday before regrouping on Thursday to start preparations for the Australasian leg of the Rugby Championship, against Australia in Perth (6 September) and New Zealand in Wellington (13 September).

Photo: Juan Mabromata/AFP Photo