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Fernández Lobbe: 'Perhaps we can make them doubt'
Argentina's preparations for the biggest game of their history appear to have been hit by fitness worries to Agustín Pichot, Juan MartÍn Hernández, Felipe Contepomi and Ignacio Corleto.
The quartet were excused from full training on Thursday due to bumps, bruising and shakes picked up over the last week.
Pichot is nursing minor back pains from a leg muscle problem, while Contepomi is not totally over the bout of 'flu that affected his build-up to the quarter-final victory over Scotland.
Hernández and Corleto are carrying minor knocks from the same game, but all four players are expected to be fit for Sunday's semi-final clash with South Africa at Stade de France, Paris.
Yet Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, he himself nursing a twisted elbow, believes his side's collective will is stronger than its individual parts.
"When you prepare for a strategic game like this, all the players from 1 to 22 - plus the eight guys who are sitting in the stands - know what needs to be done," he said.
"That way it's easy for the leaders - the scrum-half, the number ten, the hooker - to guide the rest of the team and achieve what we are looking for."
But the Sale Sharks forward, who along with Pichot and Mario Ledesma has played in a national record of 12 World Cup matches, said Argentina would have to repeat their best performances to have a chance of beating the Springboks for the first time - that benchmark being their surprise 17-12 over the hosts in the tournament's opening game and the 30-15 victory over the Irish to win the pool.
"If we want to have a chance against the Boks we have to have the level of our games against France and Ireland," he told reporters.
"Our mental strength will have to go up a little bit if we want to disturb the Boks, who are the best team up to now in the World Cup.
"Every time we play South Africa they are hard games, they usually play like in the Tri-Nations - open rugby with full-body tackles.
"Our kind of tackle is low, around the ankles and knees, and perhaps we can make them doubt."
Fernández Lobbe added that the Pumas drew extra strength from the support they are receiving from back home, where people from all walks of life have been bitten by the rugby bug.
"It's great if a little bit crazy," he said.
"I am told that even the taxi drivers, who know nothing about rugby, now say 'so how about the bonus-point today?'!"
