Argentina and South Africa will do battle in their penultimate Rugby Championship clash at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero on Saturday.
Kick-off is scheduled for 23:10 (SA time).
But which SCHOOLS did today’s 23-man matchday squad attend?
Grey College and Paarl Boys’ High both have two old boys in the squad while there are single representatives for 19 other schools.
Argentina
15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Thomas Gallo
Substitutes: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Ignacio Calles, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Santiago Carreras, 23 Matias Moroni
No 1 ranking
Meanwhile, as reported by The South African website, Rassie Erasmus’s Springbok side will put their World Rugby No 1 ranking on the line once again this weekend.
The top-ranked Springboks will play seventh-placed Argentina in the first of two Tests this weekend.
The ‘return’ fixture will take place at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday, 28 September.
The Springboks have played Argentina on 17 previous occasions in Argentina and boast 14 wins, lose defeat and one draws.
The draw (16-16) came back in 2012, while South Africa’s two defeats took place in 2016 (26-24) and 2018 (32-19).
The Springboks’ overall record against the Pumas is even better.
In 36 previous Tests, the Springboks have won 32, lost three, with that single draw.
Latest odds
Hollywoodbets have marked up the Springboks as 1/4 favourites to triumph on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Argentina can be backed at 3/1, with the draw after 80 minutes on offer at 25/1.
In terms of handicap, the Springboks are seen as 9.5-point favourites.
Rankings explainer
Ahead of the Test, the Springboks sit top of the rankings pile with 93.58 points, with Argentina on 82.49.
A victory by 15 points or fewer for the Springboks will see their points tally grow by 0.19 points. Similarly, a defeat by that margin will see Argentina’s points total drop by 0.19 points.
A win by 16 or more points for the Springboks will see them gain 0.29 points – and the Pumas lose a similar tally.
Neither of the above two scenarios would see either team change position in the standings.
A draw would see South Africa lose 0.81 points, but stay top, while with such a result, Argentina would pick up 0.81 points and move into sixth place ahead of Scotland.
A win for Argentina by 15 or fewer points would see them pick up 1.81 points (and the Springboks lose 1.81 points), and again move to sixth place, with the Springboks dropping to second spot.
A victory by 16 or more points for Argentina would see them pick up 2.71 points – and again move to sixth spot. The Springboks would lose 2.71 points and slip to second place.
WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | South Africa | 93.58 |
| 2 | Ireland | 92.12 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 88.70 |
| 4 | France | 86.96 |
| 5 | England | 85.40 |
| 6 | Scotland | 82.82 |
| 7 | Argentina | 82.49 |
| 8 | Italy | 79.98 |
| 9 | Australia | 79.34 |
| 10 | Fiji | 78.43 |
| 11 | Wales | 76.04 |
| 12 | Georgia | 74.10 |
| 13 | Japan | 73.53 |
| 14 | Samoa | 72.30 |
| 15 | Portugal | 70.61 |
| 16 | Tonga | 68.12 |
| 17 | Uruguay | 67.39 |
| 18 | Spain | 66.29 |
| 19 | USA | 66.08 |
| 20 | Romania | 62.62 |
Referee
Saturday’s Test in Santiago will be refereed by England’s Christophe Ridley who not only will be making his Rugby Championship debut, but has never previously refereed a match involving the Springboks.
Score prediction for the Argentina vs Springboks match?
Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing info@thesouthafrican.com or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
You can also follow @TheSAnews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest Springbok news.
