Year by year, it becomes more evident that the plan to boot South Africa and Argentina from the Super Rugby competition was a major error on the side of New Zealand and Australia.
The weekend’s Tests were evidence of it again when the Wallabies received a beating from the Springboks in a fairly one-sided match in Brisbane that kicked off the Rugby Championship. Shortly afterwards, Argentina ‒ whom no one really gave a chance ‒ shocked the All Blacks in Wellington to record another famous victory over their hosts.
In a show of sheer power and brute force, the Boks were far superior up front against the Aussies, and that allowed the Springbok backline to show off their skills for a convincing win in Brisbane. There was never a doubt that the world champions would come out on top, and from the first scrum almost right after the kick-off, South Africa had the upper hand.
How the Bok forwards got over the advantage line with their carries, almost at will, with No 8 Elrigh Louw leading the charge, and the sheer physicality with which they defended when the Wallabies had the ball, showed there is a definite gap in class between the two sides.
Frankly, it was an abject performance by the Wallabies and there is little indication of them being able to put out something different in Perth this weekend. They had no muscle to front up to the bruising Bok runs and their ball carriers were tackled back without really ever getting over the advantage line and gaining territory.
Opposite the Tasman Sea, the All Blacks lacked the same physicality, especially on defence, to shut down an Argentine side on the rampage in Wellington.
Just like the South Africans, the Jaguares of Argentina were also dropped from the southern hemisphere club competition and it was clear in the last quarter of the match that the All Blacks didn’t know how to stop Los Pumas ball carriers in close combat.
Normally it’s the other way around when New Zealand turn up the intensity during the final 20 minutes of the match, but they were totally outmuscled by their counterparts and didn’t turn up physically.
One can’t help but wonder if things would have been different for the Wallabies and All Blacks if they had kept the South African franchises and the Jaguares in Super Rugby, instead of booting them out in 2020.
Now, the New Zealanders and Aussies sit with the baked pears in the Rugby Championship because they only face each other’s players in their local franchises and tier-two nation players from Fiji and Samoa in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. And the Australians are not known for their red-hot franchise form. The Crusaders and Blues can also only play each other so many times for proper competition.
And it’s definitely taking its toll now, physically at least, if you look at how things are going.
The Boks should still be too strong for the Aussies this weekend in the second clash, but the All Blacks will probably welcome another tough encounter with Argentina that could prepare them in some manner for what awaits against the Springboks.
If they can’t handle Los Pumas on Saturday and fail again, it will be difficult to see how they will deal with the world champions in Johannesburg (August 31) and Cape Town (September 7) in their second assignment of the Rugby Championship.