The All Blacks bagged the Rugby Championship title on Saturday with two games to spare. With their crushing 41-13 victory over the Springboks in Christchurch they moved up to 20 points, followed by Australia, South Africa and Argentina. Here rugby writer Jacques van der Westhuyzen assesses the state of the four teams
Argentina
The men from South America prop up the table with five points, earned from a win against the Springboks and a narrow defeat to the same opposition and that could be as much as they’ll get this year.
Augustin Creevy and his men have made a step up in 2016 and fully deserved their win against the Boks in Salta, but until they learn to play for the full 80 minutes will they seriously challenge the three ‘big brothers’ on a more regular basis. And, like the Boks at the moment, the Argentines are making too many basic errors and their ill-discipline remains a problem.
After pushing the All Blacks for 50 minutes in Hamilton, and then being blown away, Creevy’s team also pushed Australia in Perth this weekend before they let the home team score a few soft tries in the last quarter to win the game comfortably. They’ve conceded 18 tries in total; too many from four games for them to be considered a solid outfit.
Next up is New Zealand in Buenos Aires and then Australia, at Twickenham. GRADE: D
Australia
After two crushing defeats by the All Blacks the Wallabies bounced back strongly against the Boks and Argentina in the last fortnight.
In a tight game against the Boks they took their chances and deservedly won the match in Brisbane but the quality of their performance was poor and it only improved a little against Argentina on Saturday.
Stephen Moore, pictured, and his men raced into a big lead just to let the visitors back into the game before taking it away in the latter stages, but it’ll be interesting to now see how they go on the road, in South Africa and then London, where they meet Argentina at Twickenham.
Surprisingly the Wallabies are second in the standings, with nine points, but proof of how inferior to the All Blacks all the other teams are can be found in the total points scored and conceded so far - the All Blacks have scored 169 points, the Wallabies just 76. Also the Wallabies have scored a paltry seven tries; the All Blacks 24. GRADE: C
New Zealand
In a different league; in a class of their own; rugby from another planet. These are all terms that have been used to describe the current crop of All Blacks and they’d all be just about right. In fact, they’re all spot on.
After thumping the Wallabies in back-to-back games Kieran Read and his charges were supposed to be tested a little more by Argentina and the Springboks and while these teams did hold up the juggernaut for a while neither of them got close to ending the seven-year unbeaten run on home soil.
Against Argentina it was anyone’s game until the 50th minute when the All Blacks changed gear and scored a handful of tries to put 50 on the South Americans and then on Saturday they scored four second half tries to none by the Boks to win comfortably yet again. After four games, New Zealand have given away just 52 points and two tries. They’re a formidable outfit and worthy winners. Let’s see what they do on the road. GRADE: A+
South Africa
After edging Argentina first up in Nelspruit it was hoped the Boks would steadily improve and be functioning well by the time they got to New Zealand. We now know that didn’t happen.
Allister Coetzee and his men came unstuck in Salta - for the first time - and then fell to pieces in Australasia in the last fortnight.
They never really got into the swing of things against the Wallabies and kicked too much ball away to be a threat and then on Saturday in Christchurch they made too many basic errors to put the All Blacks under pressure for lengthy periods.
They were also all over the place in defence and ended up conceding six tries and scoring only one in reply. They managed only a penalty in a poor second half showing.
It’s back home for Coetzee and Co and return fixtures with Australia and New Zealand. The Boks will hope to score a few more than the seven tries they’ve bagged up to now, while defensively they’ll aim to tighten up after letting in 12 tries so far. GRADE: E
The Star