Nienaber and co take blame for affecting Bok rhythm with mix-and-match strategy

Without dwelling too much on the issue, Jacques Nienaber was more than willing to concede that much of the blame for the Springboks' unconvincing 22-21 Rugby Championship victory over Argentina here on Saturday night lay with a mix-and-match selection strategy.

South Africa, despite boasting a large contingent of stalwarts, were once again much changed from the loss to the All Blacks a fortnight ago and the lack of cohesion was evident in a showing where the team was wayward at times.  

"The easiest way to get cohesion is to have continuity in selection and that's probably where we've been putting the players under pressure," said the Bok mentor.

"If you look at the amount of minutes Bongi Mbonambi played compared to Malcolm Marx a week ago and how we've evened it out now by letting Malcolm start, you'll see there's some parity now in terms of match-fitness. And that's what we're trying to do overall.

"It's about getting everybody back into the mix, playing rugby again on an international stage. However, every week [to date] they have had to contend with a different hooker, prop, loose trio and so on, which affects rhythm.

"As we get closer to the World Cup, team selection will be more consistent."

Nonetheless, this was not a particularly pleasing spectacle to watch, with stand-in skipper Duane Vermeulen, in particular, bemoaning a relative lack of discipline that was evidenced by 12 penalties being conceded as well as 20 turnovers being lost.

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"It was a stop-start game for us. Our discipline wasn't something that we'll reflect upon fondly," said the veteran No 8, who was once again a huge presence.

"I don't know how many penalties we