Erasmus content with Argentina fitness exercise

South Africa's head coach Rassie Erasmus eyes the ball ahead of the Rugby Union one-off test match between Argentina and South Africa at the Jose Amalfitani stadium in Buenos Aires on August 8, 2026. (Photo by Alejandro PAGNI / AFP via Getty Images)

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus feels Saturday's tough game against Argentina helped get his injury-hit team back into shape ​to face the All Blacks.

The Springboks edged out a 17-10 win ‌at Vélez Sarsfield over their hosts as they welcomed back a raft of players who had been sidelined but who they hope to have ready for the four-test series against New Zealand, ​which starts in a fortnight.

"We had seven or eight guys who'd played ​almost no minutes over the last six, seven weeks, so I ⁠always thought it was going to be disjointed.

"We just had to get a lot ​of players through some match fitness," Erasmus said.

One was captain Siya Kolisi, who had ​been suffering from a hamstring injury and went off after 25 minutes with a similar setback, but World Cup-winning locks Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth both impressed, and Cobus Reinach was ​back along with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the important halfback pairing.

Erasmus said he did ​not feel the match was in any way preparation for the upcoming clash against the All ‌Blacks, but ⁠rather an exercise in getting players match fit.

"I wouldn't say it's a good practice, honestly, because Argentina plays a different style (to New Zealand), and it's very intimidating in the stadium here. Obviously, it wasn't pretty. Obviously, it wasn't perfect, but that ​we expected.

"They (Argentina) play a ​very similar style ⁠of physical game as us, and we've always struggled to get over them physically. I thought that our defence was good, ​and our discipline was relatively good. Obviously, there are things ​on our ⁠attack which we have to sort out.

"So over the next two weeks, we'll have to look at our injuries, and then we'll pick the team that we hope can ⁠try and ​win against New Zealand in the first test ​match," Erasmus added.

The All Blacks are on an eight-match tour of South Africa. Coach Dave ‌Rennie has named a new starting team for the clash with the Sharks on Tuesday as he continued with his policy of giving all the tour party an outing in the early stages of the tour.

Luke Jacobson will captain the All Blacks for ​the first time. "He is highly respected, has a ⁠great feel for the game and will lead through ​his actions,” Rennie said at the team announcement on ​Sunday.

Hooker Asafo Aumua, loose forward Ethan Blackadder, lock Sam Darry, prop Ollie Norris, halfback Kyle Preston and winger Caleb Clarke, who all came ​off the bench against the Stormers in the tour ​opener on Friday, will start against the Sharks. 

The first test is in ​Johannesburg on August 22.

Reuters