Rugby Championship

The All Blacks forwards smashed Australia for another win at Eden Park in one of their most emphatic performances of Ian Foster's tenure.

A beautiful mind crunching all the player stats. Will Jordan was dangerous whenever he touched the ball and lit up the match with his wonderful try. You need journalists close enough to smell the liniment. If quality local sport journalism is important to you, become a Stuff supporter today. Whitelock and Retallick were back to their bludgeoning best. As a contest, it was slowly but surely one-way traffic for the All Blacks, who went to their forwards who grew in stature after some scintillating attacks in the first half. The Springboks need a 40-point victory with a bonus point to overhaul the All Blacks. The Wallabies were on the receiving end of two yellow cards in the first half – the second for Dave Porecki after the All Blacks’ forwards earned a penalty try – and Dave Rennie’s team, in many ways, were their own worst enemies for their 23rd consecutive defeat in Auckland, missing a whopping 29 tackles. [was excellent in his first test at second five-eighth in his latest position](https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/129969195/all-blacks-player-ratings-jordie-barrett-shines-in-shift-to-second-fiveeighth), with brother Beauden impressing back at fullback, and the All Blacks might persevere with those switches, but the contest was won by the forwards. The Aussie pack was scattered to the turf – notably in maul tries for hookers Codie Taylor and Samisoni Taukei’aho in the second half – and were lucky to score their first try from a ricochet for Folau Fainga’a, before Jordan Petaia’s consolation on full-time. [last week’s controversial win in Melbourne](https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300689502/all-blacks-produce-miracle-3937-victory-over-wallabies-in-melbourne), there was no delay in deciding the return fixture and the All Blacks secured the bonus-point victory they needed, flattening Australia 40-14. Ian Foster’s side improved their season record to five wins from nine – and a second against a flat Wallabies outfit – to all but clinch the Rugby Championship with one of their more emphatic performances in recent memory at a sold out Eden Park.

The Wallabies were never in the contest at Eden Park, as the All Blacks ran riot.

Moments later, captain Sam Whitelock chose to turn down a gift three points in favour of a 5m linout and the decision paid off. Brodie Retallick was immense in the loose and the tight, while Whitelock somehow continues to improve after 140 test matches. Wing Caleb Clarke terrorised the Wallabies right-edge defence and was flawless under the high ball. The All Blacks defence held on valiantly in the face of a few more try-line assaults and continued to back their counter-attack, resulting in some breathtaking expansive play. The Wallabies managed to repel a series of raids by the All Blacks and limit the damage during Holloway's absence. Plenty of selection questions may also have been answered.

The Springboks will have to get a big bonus-point victory over Argentina to win the Rugby Championship after New Zealand thrashed the Wallabies in Auckland ...

Following a 38-21 victory for South Africa over Argentina in their Rugby Championship clash, here's our five takeaways from the match in Durban.

Out of position, out of shape and out of gas, any suggestion of South Africa playing for the 39-point win they needed ended whenever the ball came his way. Now don’t think for one moment that we are criticising the actual cards, the key here is that there are far too many offences that now appear to warrant a sin-bin. Frustratingly, time and time again they conceded the same penalties: three for binding on the leg at maul time, four for collapsing the maul (and two penalty tries with matching yellow cards). Their defence at times was superb, they won the aerial battle and bossed the drop zone, but the hammering they took at scrumtime against a world-class set-piece simply meant that at every point of the match they were trying to play catch up rugby. But this weekend he turned up and turned up big time as his massive scrummaging performance was the key to the Bok win. At times, their rolling maul stuttered (especially when Eben Etzebeth was in the bin) and their lineout was less than its certain self, with a number of squint throws from Malcolm Marx resulting in turnovers.

New Zealand's big bonus point victory over Wallabies at Eden Park enough for title as South Africa fail to pull away from Argentina.

They came either side of Argentina's third try, from centre Matías Moroni. Emiliano Boffelli kicked the conversion from out wide to make it 17-14 and South Africa had to scramble from then on just to end the tournament with a win. New Zealand beat Australia 40-14 in their final-round game in Auckland last night to set South Africa the imposing target, and the All Blacks retained their title and claimed their eighth triumph in 10 tournaments in the Rugby Championship era.

The Springboks beat Argentina 38-21 in their Rugby Championship clash on Saturday, but it wasn't enough to wrestle the trophy away from New Zealand.

The hosts responded with another maul that led to a penalty try in the 71st minute. They didn't get them, but Kurt-Lee Arendse's 80th-minute try gave the crowd something to shout about. The capacity crowd was far from pleased, but that also showed the Boks were human. The crowd screamed 'Bokke! It was the most nervous of starts from the Springboks. The ensuing penalty wasn't kicked into touch and Steyn had a kick charged down. That was something Argentina smartly denied them. That left the Boks with 13 men to get to the half-century and it was at this point where a sense of gloom and despondency settled on the crowd. The try meant the Boks needed to be on 46 points and it didn't help that, like in Buenos Aires, they allowed the Pumas to dictate the flow and the pace of the game. That was handed to Willie le Roux and from there, the Boks scored their second try from a rolling maul through captain Siya Kolisi in the 29th minute. That led to a passionate performance that was also nervous, hurried, and thoroughly lacking in precision, especially in the back division. That the Springboks are a good side isn't in dispute, but in a game where they needed to be forthright, purposeful, and resourceful, they failed in all three departments.