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Springboks v Los Pumas - The Hard Numbers

Coetzee might be having a ball but there's a target on his back

South Africa host Argentina in their opening match of The Rugby Championship at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth where they have enjoyed recent success. No one knows how good the Springboks will be this time around, but most are predicting they will be too good for the Argentinians. Read on for all the top stats…

  • Argentina have won two of their last five games against South Africa after having won none of the previous 19 encounters between the two nations (D1, L18); they’ll also be searching for consecutive wins against the Springboks for the first time.
  • South Africa are undefeated from their previous four fixtures at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (W3, D1), restricting their opponents to just 10 points per game on average at the venue.
  • Argentina will be searching for back-to-back wins for the first time since June 2016 after a 45-29 win against Georgia earlier this year.
  • South Africa head into the game on the back of a three-game series whitewash against France, the last time they won more games in succession was a four-game streak during the Rugby World Cup in 2015.
  • However, the Springboks have lost seven of their last nine games in The Rugby Championship, including their heaviest home defeat ever in their last such match (15-57 v New Zealand).
  • Argentina enjoyed the most time in possession of any team in The Rugby Championship 2016 (17m 12s per game), as well as boasting the best ruck success rate (96%) of any of the four nations.
  • Juan Manuel Leguizamon (77) is poised to equal Pedro Sporleder (78) as the third most capped forward in Pumas history; only Rolando Martin (86) and Mario Ledesma Arocena (84) have played more.
  • Facundo Isa made 85 carries in last year’s edition of the tournament, 15 more than any other player, while he gained the most metres of any forward (361).
  • Jean-Luc du Preez is yet to miss a tackle for South Africa, he made 28/28 against France during the June Test Series, the most of any player to maintain a 100% success rate.
  • Nicolas Sanchez was successful with 20 of 23 attempts at goal in The Rugby Championship 2016, giving him the best goal success rate (87%) of any player to have made more than three attempts.
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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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