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The Springboks are laser focused on beating Argentina and have put their upcoming Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series (RGR) against New Zealand on the backburner for the time being, coach Rassie Erasmus says.The Boks will travel to South America in two different groups on Saturday, while the rest of the players will return to their training base in Johannesburg to begin their preparations for the four-Test series against the All Blacks.“First and foremost, we want to beat Argentina just like every other team we play. The Boks want to win every Test match we play,” Erasmus said.“Then there’s the bigger picture, the Rugby World Cup, which is close to a year away, but you also have to respect the team you play next week.”With 10 players returning from a stint on the sidelines due to injury, Erasmus gave an update on the players’ availability for next week’s match-up against the Pumas.“There are only two guys who won’t be available due to longer term injuries, and they are Ox Nché and Franco Mostert,” he said.“Apart from them, everyone is ready to play. I wouldn’t say it is ideal [that they are all returning from injury now].Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus. (FREDLIN ADRIAAN) “We would have liked the guys not to be injured and to have been able to manage their time right from the start.“The same applied to André Esterhuizen, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but this game is a really good opportunity.“Argentina are a quality team, and you’ll quickly see who is ready to play against New Zealand two weeks later.“That said, this match wasn’t planned with that reason in mind — it was always about honouring our relationship with Argentina, but yes, most of those guys will be involved.”Asked how he planned to manage his squad going into the RGR series, Erasmus said: “The big thing is we don’t want to keep a guy with us and not use him during the All Black series.“That’s why we’re giving some guys the opportunity to play for their franchises.“Taking players on tour without being able to give him a game for his franchise against the All Blacks would not be the right thing, but we also don’t want to release players if we’re not 100% sure we’re covered in those positions for the All Black Tests.“So as far as we can release players without jeopardising squad depth, we’ll try to do so.“We might also still release more players from the group if they don’t get enough game time in the Springbok Tests.“I saw the New Zealand squad was announced and had a brief look at it, but at this stage we’re all locked in for Argentina.“There’ll be a group that stays behind and starts focusing on them, because we can only take a certain number of players to Argentina. But in all honesty, I haven’t studied their squad enough.“That said, it sounds like everybody’s really excited about the squad and the way they’ve played in the first three (Nations Championship) games, and we know it’s going to be tough, but Argentina is our first goal right now.”
