Get your tickets to see the Wallabies take on Argentina in Townsville and Sydney!<\/a><\/p>\nComing off a 29-23 loss to the Pumas — their first defeat on Argentina soil — Scott Robertson’s New Zealand would have their aura further eroded if beaten by the Springboks in Auckland, where the hosts last lost in 1994.<\/p>\n
Australia couldn’t make it two-from-two in South Africa last month, beaten 30-22 in Cape Town, and must now attempt to erase the memory of last year’s embarrassing 67-27 humbling to the Pumas when they host the South Americans in Townsville.<\/p>\n
– Eden Park fortress –<\/p>\n
The world’s top two nations square off at Eden Park, where New Zealand’s unbeaten streak stands at 50 Tests.<\/p>\n
Rugby was still an amateur game when the All Blacks last lost there, to France, and have gone on to construct one of the sport’s most extraordinary records.<\/p>\n
Adding to the occasion, inspirational All Blacks back-rower Ardie Savea will play his 100th Test.<\/p>\n
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has played up the challenge facing his two-time reigning world champions.<\/p>\n
Despite naming a Test-hardened team he noted his players had limited experience in New Zealand, where South Africa have lined up only once in the last six years.<\/p>\n
“So for a lot of the players, even though they’re really experienced, it’s massive for them just playing here,” Erasmus said.<\/p>\n
“It’s exciting, it’s nerve-wracking, it’s an honour, it’s Ardie’s 100th Test match and it’s a big build-up.<\/p>\n
“The Rugby Championship is all squares, we are desperately wanting to win this game.”<\/p>\n
A win or draw would lift the Springboks past their opponents and back on top of the world rankings.<\/p>\n
Victory would also be South Africa’s first in Auckland since 1937 and would extend their winning run against New Zealand to five matches, including the 2023 World Cup final.<\/p>\n
Perhaps sensing what is at stake, Robertson invited two decorated former All Blacks coaches into training sessions this week.<\/p>\n
He said Graham Henry and Wayne Smith had identified some of his team’s shortcomings and pointed at past New Zealand success against the Springboks.<\/p>\n
“You need those stories from granddad, don’t you?” Robertson said of the pair’s advice.<\/p>\n
– Wallabies revenge mission –<\/p>\n
It’s nearly a year to the day since Australia’s haunting 40-point drubbing in Santa Fe, where their 67 points conceded remains an unwanted Wallabies record.<\/p>\n
Coach Joe Schmidt said his side have made giant strides since a performance that still stings.<\/p>\n
“We led by 20 points before falling off a cliff, I think I described it as at the time,” Schmidt said.<\/p>\n
“The players are conscious of what they need to deliver now. It’s hard to connect something from a year ago with what we’re currently doing, but certainly there have been a few connections.”<\/p>\n
Schmidt’s team gained momentum throughout their 2-1 series loss to the British and Irish Lions in July before stunning the Springboks 38-22 in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Schmidt says Argentina are another team on an upward growth curve, underlined by the emphatic manner of their triumph against New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The Pumas lead the competition’s attacking statistics and if they adjust to the hot, humid conditions of North Queensland could again be hard to contain.<\/p>\n
The home side welcome back skipper Harry Wilson and fly-half Tom Lynagh, but have lost the services of towering lock Will Skelton, who has returned to his French club La Rochelle.<\/p>\n
The Pumas are without injured playmaker Tomas Albornoz but\u00a0replacement Santiago Carreras proved a pivotal figure with his composure and goalkicking when they stunned the All Blacks last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa will chase history at New Zealand’s fortress while Australia are out to avenge a record defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85,36831],"class_list":["post-122965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-the-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}