Pumas set for home clash against Springboks

The Castle Rugby Championship Today New Zealand vs Australia 09:00 SS1 Argentina vs South Africa 20:50 SS1

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Castle Rugby Championship TodayNew Zealand vs Australia 09:00 SS1Argentina vs South Africa 20:50 SS1BUENOS AIRES – Argentina will make their eagerly-awaited home debut in the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship on Saturday.But they must tackle South Africa in Mendoza without star fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, who was injured during a training session earlier this week and has been replaced by Nicolas Sanchez.A capacity 50,000 crowd is expected for arguably the biggest day in Argentina’s rugby history. But the Pumas have their work cut out, given they lost to the Springboks in Cape Town last weekend and have never beaten South Africa from 14 attempts.The visitors have also suffered an injury blow, with powerhouse hooker Bismarck du Plessis sidelined, yet South Africa will still start as firm favourites.And their cause was helped significantly when wing Bryan Habana passed a fitness test on Wednesday after suffering an ankle injury during the victory at Newlands."Having Bryan is obviously a big boost as we’ve lost a number of players with lots of experience after J P Pietersen, Pierre Spies and Bismarck du Plessis already had to withdraw from our squad,” Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer told www.sarugby.net.