South Africa juggernaut rolls on – what we learned from Rugby Championship

The Rugby Championship has been completed for a further year by the southern hemisphere sides.

South Africa won back-to-back titles for the first time when they defeated Argentina at Allianz Stadium in London on Saturday.

The opening four rounds saw the four teams each claim two victories in a thrilling tournament.

An Argentina side that defeated all three of their rivals for the first time in the Rugby Championship last year will be disappointed by two wins out of six.

For the first time since 2022, the Pumas, who entered the competition in 2012, came in at the bottom of the table this year.

Felipe Contepomi’s team’s highlight was a first-ever home victory over New Zealand in round two.

The biggest disappointment will be wasting a 14-point lead over Australia in round three, which they corrected the following week, as another victory would have prevented them from finishing fourth.

Financial advantages come with choosing to play the Springboks’ final home game at Allianz Stadium, but the city’s large, expat community in London gave them a leg.

Losing a two-test series against England in July had already put pressure on the outcome of the campaign.

Argentina, who play an exciting and quick style of rugby, needs to continue pushing forward with a significant result to have a realistic title charge.

Would the Australian tour of the British and Irish Lions be competitive? For the advancing Wallabies, that question has a good age.

After failing to reach the knockout stages of a rugby world cup for the first time in 2023, Joe Schmidt took over at their lowest level.

With victories over South Africa and Argentina, they finished third overall, which is an improvement on their previous two last-place finishes in a row.

With New Zealand playing the Wallabies in their final two matches following a record-loss by South Africa, their campaign forged toward a historic push to reclaim the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002.

However, Schmidt was unable to remove the Bledisloe from the All Blacks, leading to his two-loss reign.

Even so, he succeeds Les Kiss as head coach, who is also in charge.

“I do believe the team is growing, and I can’t say for sure that will be linear, but I can pretty much guarantee that the effort will be there,” he said.

Max Jorgensen, a back-to-back three star, and Joseph Suaalii, a center, are dangerous attackers in tight spaces.

The All Blacks had won six of their previous seven Rugby Championships before Scott Robertson became the new Zealand head coach.

Robertson’s side fell short of South Africa for the second year in a row.

A positive aspect of Robertson’s use of 43 players this year keeps its November home games with the four home nations.

Leroy Carter made three wing starts, with No. 8 Peter Lakai, 22, making his debut in the black jersey.

Robertson is starting to add significant depth to his World Cup winning streak in 2027 while still defeating South Africa, Australia, and Argentina.

However, the All Blacks’ hopes of winning the title were hampered by their first defeat in Argentina and a shock record-setting defeat by the Springboks, which both proved unfavorable.

As Robertson switched from Damian McKenzie’s regular number 10 last year, Beauden Barrett, 34, started five of the six games at fly-half.

Richie Mo’unga, who won the World Cup final at fly-half two years ago, will have another chance to win.

Barrett, who has 142 caps, would have been in pole position to start the following World Cup, but he isn’t slowing down at the moment.

At the World Rugby Awards last year, South Africa was chosen as the men’s team of the year.

The world’s top-ranked team could win the title once more after winning back-to-back Rugby Championships.

The number of players that head coach Rassie Erasmus has used, though, is what makes the achievement even more remarkable.

He said, “I believe we had close to 47 players in our lineup, and I’d like to have given them more chances.”

The pressure was put on Erasmus by Australia and New Zealand’s defeats in the first three games, but the rewards were worth it given by the subsequent results.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23, started all three of her victories, earning her the title in three games.

Highlight of Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s record 37 points against Argentina in Durban marked the start of Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s potential ascendancy at fly-half in November.

Canan Moodie, also 23, started outside center in the final three games while Ethan Hooker, 22, started the final three games on the left and produced a standout performance against New Zealand.

With the title in their hands, Erasmus lacked confidence in his young stars.

The Springboks’ World Cup winners’ hopes of playing again, especially in matches against France and Ireland, will now become heated up for the autumn.

Erasmus once said that he would rather win the World Cup than maintain an 85 percent win rate.

He has now created a squad that appears to be capable of both.

He continued, “I believe one of our goals is to stay in the present, perform well, and not just concentrate on the World Cup.”