Four things we learned during the 2024 Rugby Championship

The 2024 Rugby Championship concluded this last weekend, with South Africa crowned champions after winning five of their six matches for 24 log points.

New Zealand were second on the points table (16 points), followed by Argentina (14) and Australia (five).

Here we look back at the performance of the four teams in the competition.

Boks a class apart

The South African team kicked on from winning the World Cup in 2023 in some style, taking their game to a new level under coach Rassie Erasmus, while the addition of assistant coaches Tony Brown (attack) and Jerry Flannery (defence) boosted the side significantly.

With a number of world class players in the mix and Erasmus picking, and backing, several rising stars, the Boks were deserved winners. They easily beat the Wallabies in Australia (33-7 and 30-12) and then followed that up with wins at home against New Zealand (31-27 and 18-12).

The Boks’ only loss was by a point (28-29) in Santiago against Argentina, but they hit back with a 48-7 win at home in their final game.

So great is the depth Erasmus has created, the Boks were able to field several different combinations during the competition and still be the dominant team.

Players who stood out include Ox Nche, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Aphelele Fassi.

New Zealand have lost their aura

The All Blacks, once the leaders in the game, have been forced to take a step back, with many pundits in that country pointing to the South Africans no longer playing in Super Rugby as one of the reasons for their decline.

Whatever the reason is, maybe it also has do with them not picking their overseas-based players, the All Blacks are not the team they once were and coach Scott Robertson has a big job ahead of him to get them back to the top.

Their 38-30 loss to Argentina on home soil hurt them first-up, but they followed that up with a 42-10 win in Auckland. In South Africa they lost twice to the Boks, though they were close affairs.

In their Bledisloe Cup matches against the Wallabies in rounds five and six, they won 31-28 and 33-13, an indication they can turn it on when they want, but they also have a few weaknesses.

Their tour to the northern hemisphere in November will either ease the pressure on Robertson or put him in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Argentina could become a real power

What new coach Felipe Contepomi has achieved with the Pumas is nothing short of a miracle. The majority of his players are based in Europe, yet he has been able to forge them into a proper powerhouse outfit.

While they blew hot and cold during the tournament, they have the potential to develop into a serious side in the years ahead, and in the build up towards the 2027 World Cup.

Their 38-30 opening round win against the All Blacks in Wellington was special, though they were brought ack down to earth the next week with a 42-10 clobbering in Auckland.

They then inexplicably lost at home to Australia (20-19) before registering a record 67-27 win against the same Wallabies a week later. They followed that up with a 29-28 win against the Boks before going down 48-7 to the world champions in SA in their last match.

If Contepomi can get his forwards functioning at a higher standard and get the set-pieces working better, the Pumas will become a handful.

Australia need a miracle

Many seasoned rugby followers believe this is the weakest period yet in Australian rugby and they’d not be wrong. The Wallabies have been on the slide for a few years, possibly also affected by not having the SA teams playing in Super Rugby, but they’re now at an all-time low.

Coach Joe Schmidt has a good coaching pedigree, but one’s got to wonder if he has enough high-quality players to pick from.

The Wallabies were well beaten by the Boks on their own turf in rounds one and two (33-7 and 30-12) but then surprisingly beat the Pumas in Argentina (20-19) before being hammered 67-27. The Wallabies then also lost back to back to the All Blacks in their two Bledisloe Cup matches.

Schmidt’s men have shown glimpses of their potential over the competition, but a lack of depth in the talent pool and not playing enough competitive rugby means a challenging future awaits the Wallabies.