Springboks-All Blacks rivalry is alive

EXCLUSIVE: The dust has settled on the Rugby Championships and while initial thoughts were that the All Blacks would walk the competition, those thoughts are now a thing of the past as the Springboks proved to be worthy opponents.

The Springboks defeated the All Blacks in Wellington before losing in the final seconds of the return fixture in Pretoria. In retrospect, the earlier tournament defeats to the Argentineans and the Australians matters little.

"I give us a 10 out of 10, not necessarily performance wise but just the progress that we have made. Yes, we lost to the Argies then we lost to the Australians and there started to be a few naysayers and doubters but all along, the most refreshing thing about this is that we have seen a plan," Morgan Newman said.

"We are starting to change up our game. The rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks is alive and well and that is, for me, the biggest positive to take out the whole thing because in the [recent] past, firstly if we beat the All Blacks it was always a fluke and secondly we didn't really believe we could beat them.

"For the last few years, the All Blacks have always been a few steps ahead but now there is no-one that can categorically say that the All Blacks can beat us. What we learnt is that the Springboks can play with intensity now, they can front up.

"I don't think the slip up against the Argies and the Aussies will happen again and there are still players out there that can still add value to the squad," he added.

Listen to what Morgan Newman has to say about the Springboks and more below: