Former New Zealand head coach Laurie Mains believes there isn\u2019t much difference between the Springboks and All Blacks after the completion of this year\u2019s Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n
The prestigious Southern Hemisphere tournament came to a conclusion on Saturday when South Africa finished their campaign with a narrow victory over Argentina at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, after New Zealand had claimed a 28-14 win over Australia at Optus Stadium in Perth earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
That resulted in the Springboks<\/a> and All Blacks<\/a> finishing on 19 points on the final Rugby Championship<\/a> table but the world champions were crowned tournament winners due to a much better points difference, while the Wallabies and Los Pumas finished in third and fourth positions respectively.<\/p>\n The Boks and All Blacks, who are in first and second positions in World Rugby\u2019s rankings, both won four out of six Rugby Championship matches, with the former\u2019s two defeats registered against Australia and New Zealand in Johannesburg and Auckland respectively, while the latter\u2019s losses came against Argentina in Buenos Aires and their second encounter with the world champions in Wellington.<\/p>\n Springboks handed All Blacks their heaviest-ever defeat<\/p>\n Scott Robertson\u2019s troops clinched a 24-17 win over the Boks in that first clash at Eden Park \u2013 which extended their unbeaten run at the famous venue to 51 Tests \u2013 before Rassie Erasmus avenged that defeat in style as they clinched a 43-10 victory at Sky Stadium, which was the All Blacks\u2019 heaviest-ever defeat in their history.<\/p>\n Mains<\/a> was recently interviewed by Michael Laws on the The Platform NZ<\/a> podcast and the show\u2019s host was singing the Boks team\u2019s praises, saying how strong they are in most departments.<\/p>\n Although he agreed, Mains used that second Test between the arch rivals to validate his point that the All Blacks are not far behind them. He feels the All Blacks got the selections of two key forwards wrong and it cost them dearly in the end.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are, but like at half-time in that second Test, there was nothing in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a pretty equal game, and that was with what I think are not a very well thought-out, selected All Black team. For example, the biggest player in the All Blacks is Fabian Holland. Now, he was put on the bench.<\/p>\n