All Blacks: Sonny Bill Williams champing at bit for selection against Pumas

Don't be surprised if Sonny Bill Williams' name is on the team sheet when the All Blacks squad is announced to take on Argentina in Buenos Aires.

The 33-year-old hasn't played since the final test against France in June but looked set to return against the Springboks in Wellington two weeks ago.

However, Williams fell ill on the Thursday before the game and was withdrawn by the selectors.

The former NRL star is back to full health and if teammate Ryan Crotty is to be believed, Williams is knocking down Steve Hansen's door to convince the boss he is good to go for the penultimate Rugby Championship test.

"He was chomping at the bit before that South African game, telling everyone he was okay and good to go," Crotty said on Wednesday.

"He trained well today [and] he's strutting around the hotel like he's feeling good.

"It's good to have him fit and healthy."

Williams may or may not have made a difference against South Africa as the All Blacks were beaten for the first time in the Rugby Championship since 2015.

Crotty played the entire 80 minutes in Wellington, admitting they should have put the onus back on South Africa, rather than attack at will.

"We could've kicked a little bit more, could've put them under a bit more pressure," Crotty said.

"We held the ball a lot and created opportunities and they made a lot of tackles so potentially we could've put them under pressure in other ways and potentially one of those was to kick."

The All Blacks haven't changed too much in preparation for the inform Pumas on Sunday morning (NZT). Despite the loss against the Springboks, assistant coach Ian Foster said on Wednesday that the process remains the same.

Crotty backed Foster's assessment, noting that training so far this week has brought some real positives.

"Today training was really good. The communication on both sides of the ball, attack and defence, was really good," said Crotty.

"Those connections are so important, especially when the real pressure comes on. So that's something that we've trained today and it's awesome to see the outsides talking well and really it was all flowing from there."

Newshub.

all blacks live updates