Wynne Gray: Win over Springboks gives Pumas self-belief for Cup

Argentina's centre Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias (bottom) is tackled during the international rugby union friendly match between Leicester and Argentina. Photo / Getty Images

Argentina eased through their routines last week against Leicester before they headed into a training camp in Portugal.

The game was a chance to dust off some travel fatigue and celebrate the career of loosehead prop Marcos Ayerza who has played more than 200 games for Leicester and is about to hit his third RWC tournament.

The Pumas picked up nine tries in a match which had a festival edge as Ayerza started at loosehead for the test side and finished in Leicester's front row.

Next up, the All Blacks on Monday at Wembley where Ayerza's combination with hooker and captain Agustin Creevy has to be a key plank in the Pumas' work. While there is little doubt about their ability to work their set pieces and compete at the breakdown, the questions are about the rest of their work.

Will five-eighths Nicolas Sanchez give the wider attacking thrust of Marcelo Bosch, Joaquin Tuculet and Juan Imhoff a chance or pursue a kicking game to try to exert penalty pressure on the All Blacks?

Perhaps as a nod towards their entry into the Super Rugby series next year, the Pumas have stacked their squad with domestic talent around five players from the English league and two from the French Top 14.

A total of 19 players are making their RWC debut after the Pumas finished their Rugby Championship programme with an historic away win against the Springboks before a loss at home to the same opposition. Coach Daniel Hourcade says the 37-25 win in Durban has boosted the side's RWC hopes.

"It gives us self-belief and makes us more confident to continue what we are doing," Hourcade said. "I'm very happy because we played a perfect game. We were organised, defended well and were effective in attack, which allowed us to score four tries. We seized the opportunities that were presented and that was a big difference. Previously we have not been able to do that. We were better in all aspects of the game for the full 80 minutes," the coach said. "We improved a lot in the scrum from previous matches and in our attack - and that allowed us to beat one of the major powers in world rugby."

Victory had given his side more belief about their ability to cut it at the World Cup. They held their nerve and stared down the mental challenges about beating the Springboks.

The Pumas open up against the All Blacks before playing Georgia, Tonga then Namibia.