Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber said on Thursday his side need a favour from Australia to pull off a surprise Rugby Championship title.
South Africa tackle Argentina on July 29 in a final-round match after suffering a 35-20 mauling in New Zealand at the weekend that severely hurt the Springboks’ chances of lifting the trophy.
“The primary objective is to win the Rugby Championship (but) it is not in our hands anymore. Australia must do us a favour,” Nienaber told a press conference in Pretoria.
New Zealand have nine points in a competition reduced to a single round before the World Cup, South Africa have five, Argentina four and Australia one.
To win the tournament, the Springboks need to beat Argentina and collect bonus points and hope the All Blacks suffer a pointless loss to the struggling Wallabies in Melbourne.
Nienaber said South Africa’s defeat to the All Blacks will not affect the team’s plans for the game against Argentina, which is likely to decide who finishes runners-up.
“Our main thing is to manage the load between the players in the games that we have available,” he said.
The Springboks are set to defend their World Cup title in France later this year, starting with a match against Scotland in Marseille on September 10.
Eight of the nine World Cup tournaments have been won by southern hemisphere teams, and the Rugby Championship offers competitive matches close to each global showpiece.
South Africa play Argentina in Buenos Aires on August 5 and New Zealand in London on August 25 in other pre-World Cup internationals.
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