Boks v Pumas: Facts and figures

THE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 – SATURDAY

SOUTH AFRICA v ARGENTINA – HOLLYWOODBETS KINGS PARK, DURBAN – KO 5.10pm

Referee

Angus Gardner (Australia)

Test debut: 29 November, 2011 – Papua New Guinea 78-3 Vanuatu

Tests as referee: 53

• Angus Gardner will take charge of this fixture for the second time, having been in the middle for Argentina’s 32-19 victory in August 2018.

• This will be the 12th time that the Australian referees each team.

• Argentina have a W3, D1, L7 record with the two other victories being historic occasions for Los Pumas with their first-ever win over New Zealand in November 2020 and their first victory over the All Blacks in New Zealand in August 2024.

• Los Pumas have lost their most recent Test with Gardner in the middle, going down 35-12 to England in July.

• South Africa have a better record with Gardner as referee – W6, L5 – and are on a three match winning run with the wins coming against New Zealand, England and Scotland.

• This is the first time that Gardner referees South Africa since the pool stage win over Scotland at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

• This will be Gardner’s fifth Test of the year, having become the first Australian to referee 50 Tests with Ireland v France in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in March.

• Gardner was also in the middle for New Zealand’s 29-19 defeat of France in July and Tonga’s 30-16 victory over Samoa in the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup 2025 on 23 August.

Head-to-head

Played: 38 – South Africa leads 33-4 with one draw

Points for: South Africa 1 315/Argentina 727 (Avg. score: 35-19)

Highest score: South Africa 73 (73-13 on 17 August, 2013)/Argentina 37 (37-25 on 8 August, 2015)

Biggest winning margin: South Africa 60 (73-13 on 17 August, 2013)/Argentina 13 (32-19 on 25 August, 2018)

First met: 6 November, 1993 – South Africa 29-26 Argentina – Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires

Last met: 28 September, 2024 – South Africa 48-7 Argentina – Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit

Head-to-head notes

• South Africa’s nine-game winning streak against Argentina came to an end when they lost 29-28 in Santiago de Estero in round five of last year’s competition.

• However, they bounced back in style a week later, securing the title with a 48-7 victory in Nelspruit.

• Aphelele Fassi and Pieter-Steph du Toit crossed twice in the win with Cheslin Kolbe, Malcolm Marx and Jesse Kriel also scoring tries.

• In addition to kicking a penalty, Jaden Hendrikse converted two of the tries and Handré Pollard slotted three more in the final 10 minutes.

• Tomás Albornoz converted his own try in the 19th minute to hand Los Pumas their only points in the match.

• Pablo Matera was sent off in the 55th minute and the Carreras’, Mateo and Santiago, were sin-binned.

• South Africa have won nine of their last 10 men's Tests against Argentina, conceding more than 21 points in a game only once in that timeframe.

• South Africa were Argentina’s first opponents when The Rugby Championship started in 2012, the Springboks winning 27-6 in Cape Town.

• Argentina, however, held them to a 16-16 draw in the return match to earn their first points in the competition.

• Argentina have lost on their last nine visits to South Africa to play the Springboks, dating back to a 37-25 win in Durban in August 2015, which is their only away win in the fixture to this day.

• It was the first time Argentina had beaten South Africa in their history, after 18 losses and a draw in the 19 previous encounters.

• South Africa have won 18 of their last 19 men's Tests against Argentina in South Africa, including their last 10 in a row.

Team notes

• Having inflicted a record 43-10 defeat on New Zealand in round four, South Africa have moved up to second in The Rugby Championship standings on 10 points, one behind leaders Australia.

• With 94 points conceded, the Springboks have the meanest defence in the competition.

• Their tally of 1 819 metres gained is the highest in The Rugby Championship, with Argentina only 16 behind.

• South Africa are ranked lowest for tackle completion rate (79%).

• No team has made more than the Springboks’ 34 offloads.

• Marco van Staden is the most penalised player in the competition (seven).

• South Africa have won four of their last five Tests at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban with their only loss in that span coming in the form of a 25-24 defeat to Ireland in July 2024.

• South Africa are the reigning champions of both Rugby World Cup and The Rugby Championship and also the No 1 ranked team in the world.

• South Africa ended their five-year wait for The Rugby Championship title when they won the 2024 edition.

• It was their second title since Argentina joined the competition to form The Rugby Championship, having previously lifted the trophy in 2019.

• The Springboks picked up 24 competition points – eight more than runners-up New Zealand – from five wins and one defeat.

• The reigning champions began their title defence this year with a 38-22 loss to Australia at Airline Emirates Park but won the return match in Cape Town, 30-22.

• The Johannesburg defeat was their first on the opening weekend of The Rugby Championship in 10 years.

• It was the first time they’d been beaten since they lost 29-28 to Argentina in the penultimate round of the 2024 Rugby Championship, ending a seven-Test winning run.

• South Africa led 22-0 after 20 minutes of this Rugby Championship opener, a match in which Willie le Roux became the Springboks’ latest Test centurion, after tries from Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen and Siya Kolisi.

• However, they conceded 38 unanswered points to lose by 16 points, a margin of defeat that saw the Springboks temporarily lose top spot in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.

• A week later a much-changed team bounced back with tries from Canan Moodie, Kwagga Smith and Eben Etzebeth, together with 15 points from the boot of Pollard, to secure a 30-22 win.

• South Africa fell to a 24-17 defeat to New Zealand at Eden Park in round three, after mounting a late fight-back, before coming from behind to register the record 43-10 win over the All Blacks in Wellington.

• It was a triumphant return for No 8 Jasper Wiese, as it was his first game back from the four-match suspension he received for his red card in the 45-0 win over Italy in July.

• South Africa’s year started with a 54-7 win over the Barbarians before beating Italy twice – they also won 42-24 – and Georgia 55-10 in the July internationals.

• Argentina are bottom of The Rugby Championship standings on nine points, two behind leaders Australia and one behind South Africa and New Zealand.

• This is Argentina’s third consecutive away game, whereas the previous five were all at home.

• Argentina have won two of their last three matches on foreign soil, having beaten the British & Irish Lions (28-24) for the first time in Dublin in June and also Australia (28-26) in Sydney in the last round of The Rugby Championship.

• Argentina have scored between 24 and 29 points in each of their four Rugby Championship matches to date, which have brought them two wins and two defeats.

• As well as the most recent win over Australia, they defeated New Zealand 29-23 in round two – the first time they have beaten the All Blacks on home soil.

• This followed a 41-24 loss to the All Blacks in Salta on the opening weekend.

• Los Pumas’ other defeat was in the first of the back-to-back matches against Australia, losing 28-24 in the dying seconds in Townsville.

• Argentina have conceded the most points (118) and tries (17) in the competition and their tally of eight tries is the fewest scored by any team.

• Almost two-thirds of Argentina’s points (66%) have come about through kicks at goal.

• Santiago Carreras is responsible for 47 of them and is the leading points-scorer in the competition.

• Carreras has slotted 17 of his 18 attempts at goal and his success rate of 94.4% is the best of anyone to have attempted more than seven shots at goal.

• Argentina have carried the ball more than any other team (511), gaining 1 803 metres, which ranks them second behind South Africa.

• Argentina have the best line-out (88.4%) and ruck (97%) success rate in the competition.

• Argentina have conceded the most penalties (44) at an average of 11 per game and have had three men sent to the sin-bin, the second-highest tally so far.

• Argentina are looking to build on their most successful Rugby Championship campaign in 2024, having beaten New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the same tournament for the first time in history.

• Argentina finished with the same number of wins as the All Blacks but were denied an historic second-place finish behind champions South Africa, as they only picked up two bonus points to New Zealand’s four.

• Los Pumas had to settle for third place but their final competition points tally of 14 was their best return yet.

• Matera became the most-capped Puma earlier in the year, overtaking Agustín Creevy’s 110 Test appearances in the second Test defeat to England in San Juan.

Team news

• South Africa have made two personnel changes to the starting line-up with second-row Etzebeth and centre Damian de Allende returning.

• Etzebeth, the most-capped Springbok, replaces the injured Lood de Jager while De Allende’s return means a shift to fullback for Damian Willemse in place of the injured Fassi.

• Ox Nche, Marx and Thomas du Toit continue as the front-row trio with Etzebeth joining Ruan Nortje in the engine room this weekend.

• The back row features three players in the 90s of Test appearances for the Springboks in captain Kolisi and flanker Du Toit. Wiese completes the back-row triumvirate at No 8.

• Cobus Reinach and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are paired together once more at half back with De Allende’s return coming alongside Moodie.

• Ethan Hooker and Kolbe retain their places on the wing with Willemse at fullback.

• Two players come onto the bench this weekend in prop Boan Venter and scrumhalf Morne van der Berg.

• Argentina have made three changes to their starting line-up from the loss to Australia, including the return of their most-capped player in Matera to the back row.

• Matera comes onto the blindside with Juan Martín González dropping to the bench.

• The two other changes come in the second row with Franco Molina and Lucas Paulos getting the nod to start with Guido Petti and Pedro Rubiolo having to be content with a place on the bench this weekend.

• It will be a first start for Paulos since the first Test defeat to England in July and his first Rugby Championship appearance since the 22-21 loss to South Africa in Johannesburg in July 2023. Mayco Vivas, captain Julián Montoya and Joel Sclavi form the front row with Marcos Kremer and Joaquín Oviedo join Matera in the back-row.

• Gonzalo Garcia and Santiago Carreras continue their half-back pairing with the latter playing his 60th Test for Los Pumas.

• Santiago Chocobares and Lucio Cinti go again as the midfield combination with the back three of Mateo Carreras, Rodrigo Isgró and Juan Cruz Mallía unchanged.

• Argentina welcome flyhalf Albornoz back to the bench for the first time since he was forced off with a hand injury in the 29-23 victory over New Zealand in round two.

Coach notes

• Rassie Erasmus returned to the Springboks head coach role in February 2024, signing a contract that takes him up to the end of 2027.

• He has overseen 20 Tests in his second spell as head coach, winning 16 and losing four.

• Erasmus was the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes of 2019 and 2023 – as head coach and then director of rugby.

• He also led South Africa to their first Rugby Championship title in five years in 2024 and a clean sweep of victories in the Autumn Nations Series that followed.

• His first reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington DC in June 2018.

• Erasmus won 36 caps for South Africa as a back-row forward from 1997-2001.

• Felipe Contepomi replaced Michael Cheika as Argentina head coach in December 2023 and has a 50% win record (P20, W10, L10).

• The former Los Pumas captain made his professional head coaching debut in 2015 with Argentina XV, before taking assistant roles with the Jaguares, Leinster and, most recently, Los Pumas.

• As an assistant to Cheika, Contepomi helped guide Argentina to a fourth-place finish at Rugby World Cup 2023.

• During his 15-year test career as a skilful fly-half/centre, 46-year-old Contepomi won 87 caps, 25 as captain, scored 651 points and played in four Rugby World Cups, including the historic third-place finish in 2007.

• The twin brother of fellow Pumas international Manuel, he combined his playing career with his medical studies and finally collected his degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in May 2007.

Rankings permutations

• South Africa will only surrender top spot – to Ireland – if they lose to Argentina in Durban.

• Although the Springboks aren’t able to gain improve their rating with victory over Los Pumas this weekend, it is still not possible for a victorious New Zealand to catch them.

• The most the All Blacks can gain for winning their Bledisloe Cup encounter with Australia at Eden Park is 0.26 rating points, and they head into the weekend two places and 2.52 points in arrears of the Springboks.

South Africa v Argentina at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban - 5.10pm

Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)

Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (FFR), Angus Mabey (NZR)

Television Match Official: Brett Cronan (RA)

Split Screen/FPRO: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker; 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth; 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Andre Esterhuizen.

Los Pumas starting XV: 15 Juan Cruz Mallía, 14 Rodrigo Isgró, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras; 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo García; 8 Joaquín Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera; 5 Lucas Paulos, 4 Franco Molina: 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julián Montoya (capt), 1 Mayco Vivas. Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Juan Martín González, 22 Simón Benítez Cruz, 23 Tomás Albornoz.