Two horse race between Springboks and Los Pumas

SPOTLIGHT: New Zealand commentator Tony Johnson has sung the Springboks’ praises - claiming the world champions will be ’hellishly hard to beat’ when they host the All Blacks in two highly-anticipated Tests.

South Africa were a class above in their two matches against Australia as part of The Rugby Championship.

The Springboks hadn’t won at Brisbane’s Lang Park Stadium since 2013 but that winless streak came to a triumphant end as they won 33-7 earlier this month.

While the Wallabies were eager to make amends for that disastrous performance in front of the Queensland faithful, it was a similar story out west seven days later.

At Perth Stadium, the Boks pulled away in the second half to win 30-12 on a wet night.

The Springboks sit atop The Rugby Championship standings with two bonus-point victories from as many starts.

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New Zealand and Argentina have one win each after splitting their two-match series, and then of course Australia who are in desperate need of a win.

Before taking on the All Blacks in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the Springboks already appear to be a strong position to charge towards the title.

Tony Johnson has even gone as far to say this is the best they’ve looked ‘in a long, long time.’

“After the first round we can come to the conclusion, very readily, that the Springboks are in a very, very strong position here,” Johnson said.

“You could argue that this is as good as the Springboks have been in a long, long time. Watching them play against Australia, there’s that old saying about bringing a knife to a gunfight.

“They just couldn’t make any dents on that Springboks team who seems to be bigger and more muscular now than they have ever been in their forwards and they’ve got some dazzling talent in their backs.

“With the help of Tony Brown, a man who I’ve made no bones about I really wanted to see in the All Blacks setup, they’re going to be hellishly hard to beat.

“Then you’ve got the All Blacks who bounced back well, but as Ardie Savea said himself, why do we have to turn on a lousy performance in order to get a really good one out of ourselves? But they were a lot better which is encouraging.

“I think the sign is there that keeping it simple might be the best way forward for this team. Don’t get too convoluted.”

It’s highly likely that the Springboks’ two Tests against the All Blacks will go a long way to deciding who wins The Rugby Championship.

New Zealand are the defending champions while South Africa are searching for their first TRC crown since 2019.

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But Argentina will have a thing or two to say about that.

If Los Pumas can claim a two-nil series sweep over the touring Wallabies, then there’s every chance the Argies could be in the mix to challenge for the crown later in the competition.

Los Pumas stunned the All Blacks in Wellington but they couldn’t repeat those heroics a week later at New Zealand’s rugby fortress, Eden Park.

It was a one-sided contest from start to finish with the hosts running riot during the opening 40-minute period.

However, they’ve returned home with the confidence that comes with beating the All Blacks in Aotearoa.

They’ll hope to build off that when they host the Wallabies in two intriguing clashes, with the first fixture kicking off next weekend.

“The Pumas, I think they’ll be happy to get a win in New Zealand.

“They couldn’t reproduce it in the second Test match and that was a little bit predictable, it’s something they haven’t really been able to do and it was Eden Park,” Johnson continued.

“Australia, I’m afraid, just look in an absolutely terrible state – they really did look second rate and they’ve got a lot of improving to do in a short space of time.”

By: Finn Morton

@Rugbypass