As All Blacks winning streaks go, this was a paltry one.
New Zealand usually go on winning runs into high double figures. On Saturday evening in Wellington, their latest streak was halted at 11 by a Springboks side that had only 25% possession and 21% territory.
Rassie Erasmus led the Springboks to a summer series win over England but The Rugby Championship delivered a pounding reality check. An opening round victory over Argentina was followed by a return loss while they also fell to Australia.
Up next was Steve Hansen’s All Blacks, a team that had beaten them six times in a row and had won 11 of the two nations’ last 12 meetings.
Erasmus heaped a lot of the pressure onto his own shoulders, ahead of the game, by saying another loss could cost him his job. Some hyperbole there but the former director of rugby at Munster was rousing his squad as they prepared for a huge game at The Cake Tin.
He asked his Boks team to deliver and that they most certainly did. Tries from Willie Le Roux, Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Aphiwe Dyantyi’s brace and 11 points from Handré Pollard saw them win 36-34 to breathe life into this year’s tournament.
The Boks will take on Australia next and they can stay in the title hunt by beating Michael Cheika’s side, who lost 23-19 to Argentina. Erasmus’ side welcome the All Blacks to Pretoria on the final weekend.
South Africa’s win, and the Aussies’ defeat, sees them climb to fifth in the world rankings. The Wallabies take their place in seventh with Scotland the meat in that sandwich.
New Zealand’s loss at home, their first since the British & Irish Lions defeated them in Wellington last June, has cost them two whole world rankings points.
It is certainly tough at the top for the All Blacks. Such has been their dominance that many of their victories, especially at home, do not see them gain many rankings points. Conversely, any defeat proves costly.
For example, were New Zealand to lose to Argentina in Buenos Aires on September 29 they would drop another two points and be just 0.4 ahead of Ireland. A heavy defeat would see them drop to second.
With Ireland up to their best ever rankings total – on the back of a 12-match winning streak that includes a Six Nations Grand Slam – it the AB’s rankings blip could add to the stakes when both sides meet in Dublin, this November.
Looking at the calculations, as the rankings currently stand, Ireland would need to beat New Zealand by 16+ points to overtake them at the top of the rankings.
A big ask but one that may not be as tough by the time Joe Schmidt’s men line up against the world champions. By then, Ireland will have played Italy (Chicago) and Argentina (Dublin), while the All Blacks have two more Rugby Championship games, Japan (Tokyo) and England (London).
