Match News and Current Form
To say that Argentina have been badly struck by absentees for this match would be an understatement. The proximity to the 2026/27 European pre-season means that many of Argentina’s stars tied to northern hemisphere clubs have had to return to their clubs including but not limited to Matías Alemanno, Bautista Delguy, Marcos Kremer, Guido Petti and Joaquin Oviedo. There are at least 21 absences including injuries and suspensions, expanded upon below, which has compelled head coach to select ten uncapped players and hand out five recalls in his 34-man squad for this month.
They certainly cannot be discounted in this one-off game, though: not only are their opponents sending far from a full strength team over to South America, but the Pumas rarely string together two bad performances these days. Only four times since the last World Cup have Argentina lost two games in a row, and on each occasion one of the defeats was by a very narrow margin - 19-20 at home to Australia, 19-22 away to Ireland, 17-22 at home to England, and 27-29 at home to the Springboks last year. So whilst last month’s seven-point loss at home to England was nonetheless disappointing, they have shown a consistent ability to learn their lessons - albeit without implementing them for an extended period of time.
That two-point win over Argentina last year, and the one-point loss the year before, is why Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus wasn’t shy of describing this game as a “massive challenge” during the week. He even went as far as hitting back against the media who framed it as a ‘warm-up’ game for their upcoming four-match series against New Zealand, describing it as an ideal challenge for his depth players.
He nonetheless selected only a handful of likely starters for August 22’s opening match against New Zealand, using this trip to get some minutes - and hopefully not too many bruises - into a matchday 23 that did not get a great deal of exposure during the Nations Championship. Many of those - such as flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, captain Siya Kolisi and locks Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager - missed July through injury and are starting here to regain some match fitness, whilst the backs are largely experimental.
Head-to-Head History
These regular Rugby Championship combatants have met ten times since the 2019 World Cup. Argentina’s only win in that time was on home soil (29-28) in 2024, whilst they came agonisingly close to repeating it last year with a 27-29 home loss.
Hot Stats and Streaks
Argentina conceded the first try in two-thirds of games since the start of 2025.
Each of Argentina’s last 12 games saw both teams score more than 20 points.
South Africa covered the spread in 65% of matches since the last World Cup.
The second half was the highest scoring half in 14 of South Africa’s last 18 games.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Pumas winger Rodrigo Isgró continues to show good form at the international level, scoring in four of his last five games for Argentina following a Nations Championship try at home to Scotland. Springboks winger Edwill van der Merwe has amassed ten tries in his last 12 matches for club or country, including an entertaining hat-trick against the Barbarians in June.
Argentina are missing Thomas Gallo, Juan Martin González, Juan Cruz Mallía and Pedro Rubiolo through injury, whilst Julián Montoya and fly-half Tomás Albornoz both have international bans to serve from their last encounter. South Africa are missing both Ox Nche and Franco Mostert to injury, whilst Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel and Damian Willemse are amongst those who did not make the trip.
Click here to see the matchday squads for both teams.
Betting Analysis
The recent form of both teams points towards South Africa covering their -16.5 point handicap.