South Africa’s poor Test and Super Rugby record in Argentina highlights the challenge facing the Springboks in the Rugby Championship decider, writes JON CARDINELLI.

In 2013, I had the opportunity to interview Agustin Pichot at his trendy office in Buenos Aires. The former Pumas scrumhalf, who was yet to ascend to power as an Argentina and World Rugby administrator, was concerned about the state of his national team.

Argentina were coming off a record 73-13 loss to the Springboks at Soccer City. Pichot took aim at the structures in his country. He said that the Pumas would never compete with the traditional heavyweights until their players were given an opportunity to develop at Super Rugby level.

‘It was important to join an international competition, but what we are missing now is a franchise,’ Pichot told me. ‘You need to have your players competing on a weekly basis against the best the southern hemisphere has to offer.’

Much has changed since the Pumas joined the Rugby Championship in 2012 and since the Jaguares were included in Super Rugby in 2016.

The national side has picked up some monumental wins in Australia and South Africa during that period. This year, the Jaguares won the South African conference for the first time and progressed to the final against the Crusaders.

The stats show why Argentina – long considered the ‘little brother’ of South African rugby – deserve to be viewed as a heavy-hitter in their own right. Indeed, one might say that the Pumas have a mental hold over their South Africa counterparts, especially in matches staged in Argentina.

BOKS vs ARGENTINA

	IN SA	IN ARG	NEUTRAL
2012	WON 27-6	DREW 16-16
2013	WON 73-13	WON 22-17
2014	WON 13-6	WON 33-31
2015	LOST 37-25	WON 26-12	WON 24-13
2016	WON 30-23	LOST 26-24
2017	WON 37-15	WON 41-23
2018	WON 34-21	LOST 32-19
TOTAL	WON 6 LOST 1	WON 4, DREW 1, LOST 2	WON 1

The Jaguares have become more competitive in South Africa over the past 12 months. In Argentina, they’ve won seven out of eight clashes with South African opposition over the past two years.

The Boks have won by a margin of more than five points in Argentina on only two occasions since the advent of the Rugby Championship. While they’ve often travelled to South America as overwhelming favourites – to win and push for a bonus point – they’ve often been humbled by a more passionate and technically astute Pumas outfit.

Last season marked the low point of the match-up – at least as far as South Africa was concerned. South Africa’s Super Rugby franchises combined for four straight losses in Argentina while the Boks slumped to a record 13-point defeat in Mendoza.

SA SUPER RUGBY TEAMS vs JAGUARES

	IN SA	IN ARG
2016	WON 4 LOST 0	WON 2 LOST 3
2017	WON 4 LOST 1	WON 2 LOST 2
2018	WON 5 LOST 0	WON 0 LOST 4
2019	WON 2 LOST 2	WON 1 LOST 3
TOTAL	WON 15 LOST 3	WON 5 LOST 12

Rassie Erasmus’ side has come a long way since that loss. Three weeks after the Mendoza nightmare, the Boks beat the All Blacks in Wellington to end a nine-year drought in New Zealand.

The Boks have ticked most of the boxes in the first two rounds of the 2019 Rugby Championship. Apart from experimenting with the World Cup in mind, Erasmus’ team has picked up a bonus-point win against Australia as well as a draw in New Zealand.

They head into the final round of the truncated tournament as the top-ranked side and with an opportunity to win the southern-hemisphere title for the first time in 10 years.

While they have reason to be confident, the record suggests that they have no reason to be complacent.

A win in Argentina could certainly be viewed as another sign of progress. A good performance on tour – a draw in New Zealand and a win in Argentina – would mark this Bok side as a class apart in the context of the past four seasons.

Whether a win in Argentina and a first title since 2009 suddenly installs the Boks as World Cup favourites is another story.

The Boks have taken some important strides over the past 18 months and could make further progress in the next week or so. It may be some time yet, however, before they are spoken about in the same breath as the All Blacks as genuine World Cup-title contenders.

Photo: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images