Nick Mallett believes the versatility of several players in the Springboks squad is one of the core reasons for their current success and feels they have one hand on the Rugby Championship title.<\/b><\/p>\n
South Africa moved to the top of the prestigious Southern Hemisphere tournament\u2019s standings after delivering an outstanding all-round performance in their 67-30 victory over Argentina in Durban on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Springboks<\/a> have amassed 15 points after five rounds of action, one clear of the All Blacks, who are in second place, and four more than the Wallabies, while Los Pumas are propping up the table on nine points.<\/p>\n Although the Boks cruised to a comfortable victory over Argentina<\/a> in the end, it wasn\u2019t always plain sailing as the visitors held the lead for most of the first half before some brilliance from the home side\u2019s fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu just before half-time gave his side a 25-23 lead at the interval.<\/p>\n Still dominated despite having a numerical disadvantage<\/p>\n The Boks were under the cosh just before the break when Malcolm Marx was yellow-carded for illegally collapsing a maul close to his try-line, for which they were also punished with a penalty try, but despite having a numerical disadvantage, they finished the half stronger thanks to the versatility of some of their players.<\/p>\n With Marx off the field, Boks boss Rassie Erasmus made some tactical changes in which Siya Kolisi and Thomas du Toit were replaced by Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Wilco Louw, respectively, and then a seven-man Boks scrum demolished their opponents before they were awarded a penalty.<\/p>\n The world champions continued to dominate in the second half, and Mallett<\/a> was full of praise for how certain Boks\u2019 players were able to do a job when switching positions \u2013 something which they have also done in other Tests this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful thing,\u201d he told the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel. \u201cWe\u2019re in a situation now where players like Sacha goes from fly-half to full-back, Manie comes on, it is just as good as when Sacha was fly-half and Damian (Willemse) was at full-back.<\/p>\n \u201cYou had Wessels come on at hooker at one scrum, and then Boan Venter, and then Wessels went to loosehead, and then Marx came back on. I mean, it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n \u201cThe machine keeps on going, you know? And I think that is what is so laudable about this Springbok squad, that they have bought into the fact that they have to be able to play, if they can, in more than one position to help the team out.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd secondly, (they) don\u2019t panic. If we\u2019re down to 14, it\u2019s not the end of the world. Or if we\u2019ve lost Kolbe and then Kwagga (comes in) on the wing, it\u2019s not the end of the world.<\/p>\n 2019 Rugby World Cup winner answers Springboks SOS as Rassie Erasmus forced into late change ahead of Argentina rematch<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still gonna be able to fight, and Kolbe\u2019s played scrum-half in the past, popped in there and played a bit of scrum-half.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had Grant Williams play on the wing, and I could go on and on. Esterhuizen at the flank. So it hasn\u2019t stopped us from being and getting better and better.<\/p>\n \u2018These last two games have been very good\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI think there were worse games this season, quite frankly, where Italy or Georgia, the first game against Australia. You know, we weren\u2019t so good, obviously, in Cape Town, and I think we missed an opportunity to win in Eden Park. But these last two games have been very good.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd going into, you asked me a question about being coach. I mean, Felipe Contepomi\u2019s an outstanding coach. But you can do nothing if you don\u2019t stop us on the gainline, if you don\u2019t stop us from getting momentum.<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment this Bok team gets momentum, we have so many options, and the options are not just passing. We pass with kick passes, you know? The accuracy of our kick passes is so good. We see, if we have a fly-half, we see space like Sacha or Manie.\u201d<\/p>\n Mallett feels the way the Boks are currently playing few teams at international level can match them and said they are overwhelming favourites to retain their Rugby Championship<\/a> title when they face Argentina in Saturday\u2019s rematch at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.<\/p>\n \u201cAny opposition is in serious trouble when we get front-foot ball. So, I can\u2019t see (other teams winning against the Boks). France, perhaps. I personally don\u2019t think Ireland are going to be able to match us at this level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at the moment, New Zealand haven\u2019t got the players. Australia have improved. But this competition is ours to throw away now.<\/p>\n \u201cThe match at Twickenham next week is going to be played in front of 30 to 40,000 South Africans who are going to come flooding into that game.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I can\u2019t see how Argentina are going to pick themselves up because they played quite well in that first half (in Durban). And it was 24-22 (25-23 at half-time).<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we were leading, having not played well. So, it\u2019s going to be tough for them.\u201d<\/p>\n