As the Rugby Championship reaches its climax, can Argentina upset the apple cart and topple the Springboks?
What constitutes a world class rugby team? Is it World Cup wins alone or is in an era of dominance year in, year out?
How about a team with fewer resources than the others going into the final weekend of the Rugby Championship with a first ever title still a possibility?
Because that’s exactly the scenario Argentina have manufactured for themselves.
They’ve already condemned Australia to the wooden spoon for the tournament contested between the two teams, plus New Zealand and South Africa.
And they’ve banished the days of being the team who just made up the numbers – their 13 seasons in the international quad-nations series has seen them finish last nine times.
But 2024 is the season where it could be so much more: a bonus point win for the Pumas over South Africa this weekend in Mbombela, not far from the border with Eswatini, could be enough.
They’d need to deny the world champion Springboks a point – through either finishing within seven or scoring four tries – but last week their 29-28 win saw a points distribution of 5-1.
They’re close.
Argentina on the rise
Felipe Contepomi is an outstanding coach, but one wonders whether the fine tuning he made to his coaching game with Leinster has put him in great stead for the circus that is international management.
He has turned Argentina into a side who challenge. The Pumas have been there or thereabouts for a long time and featured in World Cup semi-finals, they’ve toppled the All Blacks before too, but there looks to be a ruthlessness and a depth about them now that has not been there before.
To win against the Springboks would be an historic achievement, as would winning with a bonus point to claim their first Rugby Championship title.
But at the same time, on home turf, it would be a humiliation for South Africa to lose.
They demolished the All Blacks, dominating the New Zealanders to win the Freedom Cup – contested between the two sides – for the first time since 2009 and toppled Australia too.
They’re four from five having lost to Argentina last week chasing their first championship 2019.
The aforementioned question about what makes a world class team. South Africa have dominated World Cups and peaked for the quadrennial events but have not won the title in four years. Is that dominance?
But the real story here is in South America, in the academies of the Pumas, in Argentina’s monumental rise to the top; to the edge of glory.
To win would be incredible. To do it away against the world champions? That would be unbelievable.