Boks in Salta showdown
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The Springboks will travel to Salta to play Argentina in this year's Rugby Championship.
South Africa’s last two away matches against Argentina were in Mendoza, but this year the Springboks will visit a new destination in the north of the country.
The Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena stadium will play host to the Springboks.
The stadium is roughly 1 500 kilometres north-west of Buenos Aires and approximately 1 150 metres above sea level, which is a similar altitude to Bloemfontein.
It will be Argentina’s fourth Test in Salta, of which they’ve won two – against Italy in 2005 (35-21) and England in 2009 (24-22).
The Pumas also lost there to England last year (3-32).
The final venues and kick-off times for this four-team Southern Hemisphere competition were confirmed by SANZAR on Thursday.
The Springboks will play home matches against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, Australia at Newlands in Cape Town and will take on New Zealand at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Apart from Salta, South Africa will also visit the Paterson’s Stadium in Perth to take on Australia and their away clash against the All Blacks will be at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
After releasing the preliminary schedule in early December, SANZAR has confirmed Argentina's home venues for this year's Rugby Championship and the kick-off times for all but one fixture.
Los Pumas start their campaign against the Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg before opening their home schedule against the Springboks on August 23 .
After a trip to Napier and the Gold Coast, they return home to host the All Blacks at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata on September 27.
It will be the third consecutive year that New Zealand visits the south Buenos Aires venue having prevailed 54-15 in 2012 and 33-15 in 2013.
A kick-off time for this match will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Argentina's final home match, which also concludes The Rugby Championship, takes place at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza where they will host Australia on October 4 at 7:40pm local time (00:40 SAST, 09:40 NZDT, 11:40 AEDT).
Mendoza was the first South American venue to host a match in The Rugby Championship as Los Pumas held the Springboks to a 16-16 draw in 2012.
South Africa returned the following year to claim a hard-fought 22-17 victory.
2014 Rugby Championship fixtures (All kick-offs in SA time):
Round One – 16 August:
12.05: Australia v New Zealand (ANZ Stadium, Sydney)
17.05: South Africa v Argentina (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
Round Two – 23 August:
09.35: New Zealand v Australia (Eden Park, Auckland)
21.10: Argentina v South Africa (Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena, Salta)
Round Three – 6 September:
09.35: New Zealand v Argentina (MacLean Park, Napier)
12.10: Australia v South Africa (Patersons Stadium, Perth)
Round Four – 13 September:
09.35: New Zealand v South Africa (Westpac Stadium, Wellington)
12.05: Australia v Argentina (Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast)
Round Five – 27 September:
17.05: South Africa v Australia (Newlands, Cape Town)
TBC: Argentina v New Zealand (Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata)
Round Six – 4 October:
17.05: South Africa v New Zealand (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)
00.40 (Sunday, 5 October): Argentina v Australia (Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza)
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