Damian de Allende says the Springboks have unleashed their attacking instincts at the business end of the Rugby Championship as they crucially build towards the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

A bonus-point 36-20 win for the Boks over Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday drew Jacques Nienaber’s men level with the All Blacks on the Rugby Championship log, and both teams will have home games against Argentina and Australia, respectively, in the final round.

The Boks never stopped fighting against Los Pumas and, after De Allende bashed his way across the tryline inside the final quarter of the clash, some wonderful hands from Deon Fourie and Makazole Mapimpi put Malcolm Marx over in the final minute for the all-important bonus-point score.

It seems as if there is a different vibe in the Bok backline at the moment, with the players backing themselves to offload more and run support lines expecting the pass. 

MORE: Willemse injury a worry for Boks

On whether there has been a strategic shift to the world champions’ game plan, De Allende said post-match: “Not a lot has changed, just for us we’ve wanted to play a bit more within ourselves.

“When we played against Wales [in July], we maybe tried to stick to our structures and sometimes when you do that, it’s never enough, especially at international level.

“I feel like at the moment, we’re playing what’s in front of us and that’s the most important thing. Just like that last try we scored – it was a flippin’ great try with some good hands down the touchlines from the forwards.

The inside centre added: “It’s what we’ve tried to work on and glad we executed it … we don’t always execute to the best of our ability and make a lot of mistakes on the field, but we’re also trying to progress going into the World Cup next year and develop our game and improve, as a team and as individuals.

ALSO: Siya: We got the win, no matter what

“So we’ll keep working at it and if the opportunity is there, hopefully we take it with both hands.”

Marx’s try could potentially be decisive to the final outcome of the 2022 Rugby Championship, with the title race coming down to the final weekend.

“We were trying to execute to the best of our ability, obviously we know how open the Championship is to all four teams. So, us getting the bonus point was part of the plan,” the Bok hooker said.

“How we stuck to our guns in the last seven-odd minutes helped us a little bit, and not letting the crowd and the game get away from us.”

ICYMI – Springboks ‘stunned’ by drug use scandal

Picture: @Springboks/Twitter