Watch VideoRassie Erasmus’ Argentina call will reveal his likely Springboks side to play All Blacks at Ellis Park

Only time will tell if Springbok veterans Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi will be available for the first Test against the All Blacks. TheSpringboksreconvene in Johannesburg on Sunday after time off to see their families, and whenRassie Erasmusreveals the squad to travel to Buenos Aires to play the Pumas, we will have an excellent idea what the team to play the All Blacks will look like. The Boks play Argentina on August 8 and the All Blacks two weeks later at Ellis Park in the first Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR).

After the Boks’ finalNations Championshipfixture, against Wales in Durban, Erasmus explained that “around 15 players” will remain in South Africa to begin preparations for the All Blacks while a separate squad will tackle the Pumas in a friendly arranged to compensate them for the cancellation of the Rugby Championship this year to make way for the RGR. Similarly, the Boks play the Wallabies in Perth on September 27, two weeks after the fourth Test of the RGR, in Baltimore in the USA. It is not rocket science to deduce that the 15 players not travelling to Argentina will form the core of the team that plays in that first Test against the Kiwis.

That said, a good number of the players going to Argentina will filter into the Test squad as the RGR unfolds — the four Tests are played on consecutive weekends, and the inevitably bruising encounters will take a toll on personnel. There is also the significant fact that the fourth Test will be played in the USA, so there will be exhausting travel added to the already heavy workload. It was with this in mind that Erasmus used so many players in the matches against England, Wales and Scotland.

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The players that we can safely say will start in the first Test and not travel to South America are Malcolm Marx, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Cheslin Kolbe, Cobus Reinach, and Damian Willemse. On the other side of the coin, the players on the plane to Buenos Aires will include the seniors short on game time as they come back from injury. These players know that their reputations alone will not secure them action against the All Blacks. Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Ox Nche and Franco Mostert must prove against the dogged Pumas that they will be up for the fight against the Kiwis.

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