Jean de Villiers captains Springboks against Argentina

Instead, it’s gone the other way.

The Springboks shifted utility back Jesse Kriel from outside centre to wing to make way for De Villiers.

The Boks are looking to avoid a fourth straight test defeat, having ended last year with a loss to Wales and then going down to their Southern Hemisphere rivals Australia and New Zealand a few weeks ago.

As Australia and New Zealand meet to decide the title, Meyer’s credibility is likely on the line on Saturday.

They can now ill-afford what would be a first ever defeat to Argentina with the World Cup in England looming next month.

There is already a sense of disbelief in the Springboks camp that two seemingly dominant performances against the Wallabies and All Blacks unraveled in the final few minutes.

Jean de Villiers continues his fantastic recovery from a career-threatening injury when he leads South Africa against Argentina on Saturday in the Rugby Championship.

“We will never accept that we lost our last two Tests”, Meyer said.

As a result of De Villiers’ inclusion for the final Test in the Rugby Championship, Jesse Kriel will move to right wing.

The 34-year-old says he can not see himself playing worldwide rugby beyond the 2015 World Cup.

Meyer said that although the scrum-half Fourie du Preez and the flanker Willem Alberts started training with the squad this week, they would be given more time to fully recover from their respective injuries.

Pumas coach Daniel Hourcade will announce his starting line-up and replacements late Thursday.

Jeronimo de la Fuente and Marcelo Bosch, who featured in the Championship opener against New Zealand also return to action after they were replaced by Juan Pablo Socino and Matias Moroni for the Australia game.

Jean de Villiers (centre): “There were times when I didn’t think I would get here again”. The glimmer of hope for Argentina is that it has regularly managed to push South Africa close, drawing in 2012, and losing by five points, seven points, and just two points in their last three meetings.

“The previous World Cups, obviously I had bad luck because I got injured during it (them)”, he said.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Hooker Agustin Creevy will once again captain the side, with lock Tomas Lavanini and prop Marcos Ayerza the only other forwards to retain their place.

Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20-Siya Kolisi, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.