KEY POINTS:
PARIS - South Africa's belief in their invincibility could work in Argentina's favour when they meet in a rugby World Cup semifinal on Monday (NZT), Pumas fullback Ignacio "Nani" Corleto said.
Argentina will be playing the biggest game of their lives at the Stade de France against a Springboks side looking to reach the final for the second time since they won the trophy in 1995.
Corleto said Argentina would look for chinks in the South African armour that might give the Pumas a chance of beating the Springboks for the first time.
"They have perhaps that little weakness that they are so arrogant they think they can brush the world aside," Corleto said today.
"They did that against Fiji, it came out in the papers that they were going to win (their quarterfinal), that it was an easy match for them and to me it didn't look at all easy.
"I hope they keep thinking that ... it's historic, it was always the same ... (South Africa) always wanted to brush the world aside, always said they were the best."
The 29-year-old, a veteran of 10 World Cup matches spanning three tournaments and who has 35 caps, said South Africa played a more physical game than any other team.
"Apart from their physiques, they are guys who play physically, they are guys who play to hit," said Corleto, who has played against South Africa twice, in 2000 and 2002, but missed the last three tests between the countries.
"They like to hit and their game is based on that, on one on ones and going to hit you, they crash into you every time and the basis of their game is that and they win that way, beating the other team mentally."
Corleto said South Africa were prone to errors playing away from home.
"Abroad, playing away sometimes they're untidy, we saw that against Fiji, they dropped quite a few balls," he said.
"They made many mistakes, so their strength is not throwing the ball around. They are not France, or New Zealand or Australia, but physically they play you like no other side in the world."
One of the keys would be a good start, as Argentina had in the opening match of the tournament, a 17-12 upset win over France, Corleto said.
"A clear example is Ireland or Georgia when we started badly and spent 10 minutes trying to settle.
"We know the weaknesses of the rest and our own. What I'm saying is that they won't ride roughshod over us, this team will never let anyone do that."
- REUTERS
