Strauss has faith in the young guns

Following a lukewarm series against Ireland in the June international window, the Boks will be wanting to raise the bar significantly in the southern hemisphere's premier international competition.

To be fair, the Boks are still in a transition phase post Rugby World Cup 2015 and generally lack experience, particularly in the backline.

But Strauss is confident that the current crop  - 10 out of 15 players in the run-on side can only muster 20 caps between them - who have also had very limited exposure to the Rugby Championship, will rise to the occasion.

"The energy is there. No need to motivate the young guys. They showed against Ireland that they can play at this level," said Strauss.

The men in green and gold are looking at shaking off a four-match losing streak in the Rugby Championship although one has to bear in mind that the Championship was severely curtailed in 2015 due to the Rugby World Cup.

While in the death throes of the Heyneke Meyer era, the Boks were humbled 37-25 by Los Pumas at Kings Park in Durban a year ago.

"The results of the past won't affect us. We have cast what happened in Nelspruit in the previous Tests - the Boks were stretched by both Wales and Scotland - or what happened in Durban last year, out of our minds," commented Strauss at Friday's captain's press conference.

"They (Pumas) play with so much passion. Add to that the fact that their captain Augustin Creevy is playing in his 50th Test and that will fuel them even more," he added.

Strauss reiterated the importance of having a 117-Test veteran like Bryan Habana back in the ranks, not only from an experience point of view, but also a vital cog in the leadership engine of the Boks.

"Bryan has more caps than the entire starting backline. He embodies the Bok culture and is a great guy to have in the squad."