The Rugby Championship has been a blink, and you’ll miss it event. The primary international tournament in the southern hemisphere only began a couple of weeks ago, yet it enters its climax on Saturday.

Of course, the competition has been reduced to accommodate the upcoming World Cup, with each nation only playing one another once as part of the championship.

That means heading into the final weekend of action, it’s all still hanging in the balance, but that being said, New Zealand is in the driving seat and looks set to claim its third title in a row.

New Zealand look to retain their crown

Only 12 months ago, the tenure of Ian Foster was under heavy pressure. The All Blacks were riding an uncomfortable losing run through the middle of the Rugby Championship, right after a crippling summer series loss to Ireland, which placed Foster in the hot seat.

Since that low point, the All Blacks head coach has watched his side win the Rugby Championship and is now in with a chance of overseeing a repeat of that feat this weekend.

New Zealand remains the only unbeaten team in the tournament and has been the most consistent side over the past month. They’ve also had enough flashes of brilliance through that time to show the rest of the world that they’ll be hard to contend with in Paris this autumn.

Their first-half performance against South Africa was a sight to behold. In the opening exchanges, the All Blacks were at their blistering best, mixing fast-front foot-ball with ingenious attacking invention, which split open the shellshocked Springboks.

If they play in a similar fashion this weekend, the Wallabies won’t stand a chance.

South Africa searching for first title since World Cup triumph

It’s been a strange couple of years for South African rugby. Following the lofty heights of 2019, in which the nation claimed a record-equally third World Cup title, the Springboks have missed over a year of international rugby due to COVID and failed to win the Rugby Championship.

They’ve not looked dominant for a sustained period of time and perhaps peaked in 2021 when they brushed aside the British and Irish Lions in a dizzyingly dull summer tour.  

Since the Rugby Championship inauguration in 2012, South Africa has only won the competition once, in 2019, incidentally the same year in which they lifted the Webb Ellis trophy.

There’s no doubt Rassie Erasmus is hoping his men can replicate that feat, although the approach to the tournament has seemingly been one of experimentation rather than full-blown effort.

It feels as though the Springboks are cruising and are patiently waiting for the opportune moment to kick into gear and show their true colours. This weekend may be the perfect moment for such a showcase.

Australia still in the hunt of first win under Eddie Jones

It’s been a tough couple of years for Australian rugby fans. They’ve had to watch their nation slowly slip down the international ranks to the point where they are now ranked eighth in the world, the lowest of all teams in the Rugby Championship.

They are a spot beneath Argentina, and following their narrow loss to the South Americans two weeks ago, it’s hard to argue against that positioning.

Eddie Jones was brought in at the start of the year to fix the rot, but it seems like that plague is lingering. Since his arrival, the Wallabies remain winless and have sometimes looked abysmal.

Australia looked unorganised and unsettled in their tournament opener against a weakened South African side. Hopes of a deep run in the World Cup seem highly optimistic, especially given that the squad lacks star power and have a vacuum of experienced athletes operating at the top of their game.

That will be a huge issue when they take on New Zealand this weekend in the Bledisloe Cup, a trophy which they haven't lifted since 2002.

Jones engages in mind games ahead of All Blacks clash  

Eddie Jones is no stranger to sly jibes in a press conference. The Australian maverick is a pretty abrasive character and thrives off pushing the buttons of opponents in the build-up to a big game.

With the pressure very much on him and his Wallabies, the veteran head coach has predictably taken shots at upcoming challengers, New Zealand, in an attempt to divert any pressure from his own side.

The tactic is an obvious one and, at times, can work in his favour. But it’s hard to imagine it paying off when the All Blacks are in fine form and the words themselves, which cut deep, are likely to rile up New Zealand more than anything else.

“New Zealanders all think they’re better than us. There’s nothing better than winning against New Zealand because you feel the country sinking. The whole economy goes down,” Jones said in a press conference earlier this week.

Come Sunday morning, the sinking feeling may be contained within his own household.

Argentina trying to avoid another wooden spoon

It’s been a tough old time of late for Argentina. Since entering the Rugby Championship in 2012, Los Pumas have finished bottom of the pecking order in all but one season – that outlier was in 2015 when South Africa filled the bottom spot.

Argentina is riding an unwanted wave of six consecutive wooden spoons in the competition, though they are in with a chance of avoiding that fate this time around after picking up a late win in Australia to win the Puma Cup.

Michael Cheika’s men have more than enough skill to get the job done and indeed could cause South Africa some problems this Saturday. But the facts remain that Argentina is still frustratingly inconsistent in this competition. 

They may avoid the wooden spoon this time around, but ambitions need to be bigger than if the nation is to consistently content with the world's best moving forward.