By George ByronSeveral vital lessons were learnt during a gritty 17-10 win over Argentina that will stand the battle-hardened Springboks in good stead when they confront the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series, coach Rassie Erasmus said. The Boks had to dig deep before they were able to subdue a brave Los Pumas side who refused to take a backward step against the world champions in front of their passionate home supporters in Buenos Aires.Next up for the Boks is a showdown against old foes New Zealand at Ellis Park on August 22.“It’s a win, although it wasn’t pretty and perfect. That said, we are happy with the result and with the way we ground it out,” Erasmus said.“Our discipline was also relatively good, but what we need to sort out is our attack.“A number of players were short on game time returning from injury, but getting them through 80 minutes was always going to affect our fluency.“The positive is that we got them through the game.“Argentina are a very proud rugby nation, and I always say they’ve got that same fight in them that we have back home.“They’re passionate, and they never stop. What pleased me was that we won the physical battle.”Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus. Picture: Phill Magakoe/AFP (Phill Magakoe/AFP) Erasmus said he is happy with the composure his players showed in the heat of battle.“We’re not happy with the performance itself, but we’re happy with the character the players showed,” he said.“We’re not saying we played well, but we’re very happy with how hard we ground this one out.“The lesson is that knockout-level rugby is always close.“Even if we had drawn, we would have still learnt a lot about grinding out a result with a crowd going wild.“We never expected a comfortable win for either side. In fact, we always thought it would be a tight match, and to win by a narrow margin when they were pushing hard for a result in their own right to the end tells you it could easily have gone the other way or finished level.An old-fashioned defensive effort against a "proud nation" - Rassie Erasmus prasies Argentina and Springboks defence. pic.twitter.com/IRAAgJSE5h— Forever Sports (@ForeverSportsOn) August 10, 2026 “So we’re pleased with where we are because we were never going to come here and run away with it.“Our focus was purely on beating Argentina, and we had a tough day out there.”Erasmus said he was not surprised that the Boks appeared to be disjointed at times.“We looked leg-weary early on, gave up a lot of territory, and made errors which we knew were likely with seven or eight players having played very little rugby in the last six or seven weeks,” he said.“I always expected us to look disjointed, having left 15 players back in South Africa.“Argentina play a different style of rugby, and the stadium is genuinely intimidating, but it’s a win, although it wasn’t pretty and perfect.“They play a similarly physical game to us, and we’ve always struggled to get on top of them physically, but to concede only one try, which came from an offload we probably should have stopped, tells me our defence was largely intact.”South Africa have recalled 39-year-old utility forward Deon Fourie for the New Zealand series, almost three years after he starred in the 12-11 final win at the 2023 Rugby World Cup against the All Blacks. Fourie, who can cover hooker and loose forward, has not played a Test since coming on early in Paris after an injury to Bongi Mbonambi but was excellent for the Stormers in their 38-21 defeat by New Zealand last Friday.That match was his first back from long-term injury, and his work rate drew praise from Stormers coach John Dobson.“An incredible performance for a guy who’s again coming back from a serious injury. He’s almost 40. He made three tackles in 15 seconds, and two of them were try-saving,” Dobson told reporters.Business Day