Boks out to hone skills before Tri-Nations showdown

South Africa and Argentina go head to head here on Saturday, in a repeat of last year's World Cup semi-final, with the hosts seeking to hit top form ahead of New Zealand and Australia clashes.

The World Champion Springboks are in third spot on the southern hemisphere Tri-Nations competition points table having won one of their three matches in Australasia, but a full points haul on home soil will almost guarantee the Boks their third Tri-Nations title.

They face New Zealand, who are currently in top spot with 10 points from four games, in Cape Town next weekend before turning their attention to Australia, who are second on the log with nine points from three matches.

Victory, with a bonus point, for the Boks next weekend will see them draw level with the All Blacks at the top of the Tri-Nations standings, but before then they face Argentina in a match to celebrate former South Africa president Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

As World Champions and a team showing good form under new coach Peter de Villiers, the Boks go into the clash as deserved favourites, but that will count for nothing against a team looking to score their first ever win over the South Africans.

Argentina showed at the World Cup last year they are a team on the up and need to be taken seriously and they'll want to show that semi-final performance — their worst in the competition — against the Boks last October was simply an off-day.

New coach Santiago Phelan has picked 10 players in his side who played at the World Cup for this weekend's match so there is plenty of experience in the ranks, but without inspirational former captain Agustin Pichot and flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez, the visitors could find the Boks an even stronger outfit this time around than was the case in October.

Bok boss Peter de Villiers has picked his strongest available team, but has resisted including winger Bryan Habana and flank Schalk Burger, who both picked up injuries in the Boks' last outing.

But World Cup stars Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Butch James, Jean de Villiers and Percy Montgomery are all in the match-22.

Also back from injury are Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie, who'll get game-time off the bench in the second half.

On top of this experience, the Boks have also familiarized themselves with the new global laws that have come into the game, while for the South Americans, the ELVs will be a new experience.

Despite this disadvantage, captain Matfield says Argentina will be the perfect test ahead of the Boks' other big challenges that lie ahead.

“They love to maul and enjoy the hit and go so it's going to be a typically physical Argentina Test,” said Matfield. “But they're also going to be the perfect test for us to get things 100 percent right before the Tri-Nations matches.”

Argentina will, indeed, provide a stern test for the Boks, but they're going to have to produce a quite magical performance to beat them, especially when one considers the hosts will be playing in front of former president Mandela, who on so many occasions in the past has inspired the national team to victory.