FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2023 - Argentina Training - Orange Velodrome, Marseille, France - September 8, 2023 Argentina's Julian Montoya during training REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
NELSPRUIT, South Africa (Reuters) - Argentina have a slim chance of Rugby Championship success when they face up to hosts South Africa in the final game of this year’s competition on Saturday but captain Julian Montoya is not writing off their hopes.
Argentina moved to within five points of leaders South Africa when they beat them 29-28 in Santiago del Estero last Saturday and this weekend’s return clash at the Mbombela Stadium offers the Pumas a first chance to win the annual southern hemisphere championship.
But they would need to score three tries more than the world champions and beat the Springboks by more than seven points to prevent South Africa from taking the championship in front of their home supporters.
"We know how important this match is, what is at stake, but we want to continue the process of trying to be better," said Montoya in the build-up to Saturday’s test.
"We want to impose our game, look for the win and we know that there is a chance to win the tournament. But we have to be focused first on improving our game and only that can lead us to the result."
Montoya said reaching last year’s World Cup semi-finals had been a major boost for Argentina confidence, and they have displayed that this year by winning three games in a Rugby Championship season for the first time.
"I’ve been lucky to play finals or semi-finals with my club, but it cannot be compared to any match with Los Pumas. This squad reached the semi-finals at the World Cup and we have learned from that.
IMPROVEMENT
"We are not going to hide from this opportunity. We are aware of what lies ahead, which is thanks to what we are doing. We have to improve things from the previous match, because there is a lot of room for improvement."
One area will be the scrums where South Africa dominated last week, even if they lost the game.
"We know the Springboks have a lot of quality there and are very proud of their scrum, and we’re very proud of our scrum too.
"On their ball they were much stronger and we know that’s a key area. We know how we need to be better, and the challenge is to do it against one of, if not the best, pack in the world," Montoya added.
"Obviously it is going to be a very tough match. They brought in fresh players, they are the world champions, they have a great team. They are going for the title and they are going to be very motivated. But we’re eager to play these types of matches. We have a lot of confidence in what we do."
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
