World champions South Africa will be looking to clinch the 2024 Rugby Championship title this weekend when they arrive at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades in Santiago to face Argentina on Saturday.
The Springboks have been sensational in this year's competition, currently eight points clear at the top of the table, while Los Pumas are in second place with 10 points after the first four rounds.
Match preview
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While the likes of New Zealand and Australia have largely struggled to find top gear in the battle of the Southern Hemisphere giants, Argentina have continued their solid progress this year, and if they can pull off a victory here, it will set the competition up one heck of a final week.
Los Pumas have notched up two victories this season, shocking the All Blacks 38-30 in the opening round in Wellington and putting up a record-breaking performance against the Wallabies (67-27) in Santa Fe last time out.
In between those impressive results, the South Americans suffered a 42-10 defeat to Scott Robertson's side in round two and were edged 20-19 by Joe Schmidt's men in La Plata in round three.
Stll, with a fourth place finish at the World Cup last year and seemingly likely to avoid the Wooden Spoon in the Rugby Championship are reasons for Argentine fans to be optimistic about the future, and if anything, Los Pumas have proven that they cannot be written off in any match, regardless of the calibre of opponent.
Felipe Contepomi will now get his first taste of facing the world champions and will aim to lead his side to their first victory against the Green and Gold following eight consecutive defeats dating back to August 2018.
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Meanwhile, having proven too good for the competition so far, South Africa will head to South America this weekend with one clear objective, which is to win the 2024 Rugby Championship, and a victory over Los Pumas this weekend will secure them the title.
The Springboks have been flawless this year and kicked off the competition with two commanding victories over Australia to retain the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate for a second year in a row.
However, Rassie Erasmus's side's best performance in this year's competition arguably came in the first game of the Freedom Cup, when they came from 10 points down in the second half to clinch a 31-27 victory over the All Blacks in a match that will go down as a true Rugby Championship classic.
The Boks followed that up with a massive defensive effort in Cape Town a week later to limit New Zealand to just 12 points before a Malcolm Marx's try in the 74th minute took them six points clear and to victory.
South Africa are now on a six-match winning streak since that epic 25-24 defeat to Ireland during the July international Tests, and can secure the title this weekend even if they lose, provided they pick up two bonus points - or if New Zealand come away empty-handed against the Wallabies earlier in the day.
Argentina Rugby Championship form:
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Argentina form (all competitions):
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South Africa Rugby Championship form:
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South Africa form (all competitions):
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Team News
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Contepomi has announced three changes to his squad, with the most notable being the inclusion of Joaquin Oviedo in the starting 15 after his eye-catching cameo off the bench against the Wallabies last time out.
In the second row, Pedro Rubiolo and Franco Molina step in as the starting locks, replacing Guido Petti and Tomas Lavanini, with Contempomi opting for a 5-3 forwards-to-backs split on the bench.
Los Pumas' front row remains unchanged, with Thomas Gallo at loosehead prop, Joel Sclavi at tighthead, and Julian Montoya captaining the team from hooker.
Erasmus has named 10 changes to the side that took down the All Blacks in Cape Town in round four, including Salmaan Moerat being brought in to captain the side in the absence of Siya Kolisi.
The powerhouse that is Eben Etzebeth has been dropped to the bench for this match, and if he features, he will equal Victor Matfield's record as the most-capped South African player of all time.
The only players to retain their jerseys from the last match are Ox Nche, Jasper Wiese, Ruan Nortje and Handre Pollard with Manie Libbok named on the bench as the backup fly-half.
Argentina starting lineup: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Gudio Petti, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Matias Moroni
South Africa starting lineup: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Manie Libbok
We say: Argentina 16-28 South Africa
While Argentina have an outside chance of winning the 2024 Rugby Championship with back-to-back wins over South Africa in the next two rounds, it is difficult to back against the Springboks, who have been simply sensational in this competition.
Indeed, Los Pumas ran the Boks very close last year at Ellis Park Stadium, coming up just one point short, but we feel they will be unable to stop the world champions from adding the Southern Hemisphere title to their cabinet this weekend.
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Devesh Jaganath
