The Rugby Championship 2022

What a competition this year has seen with all four teams being able to out do each other on any given day.

The preceeding June Series Test Series saw New Zealand and Australia loose to Northern Hemisphere teams in the form of Ireland and England being totally dominated and outplayed in two of the three tests they played respectively.
As was expected, The current World champs were pipped to make an easy job of Wales, however, with Wales snatching a 2nd test win, the final match was a nailbitter in Cape Town that saw SA bag the series. Argentina on the other side of the plannet under the new stewardship of Michael Chieka outplayed Scotland twice to win their series after going down in the first test.


Getting into the Rugby Championship, we had seen The best of The boks, los pumas and wallabies, while the All Blacks were on a rather rare run of losses.

Week one saw Australia outclass their former boss' side with the Boks dominant against a disoriented All blacks outfit in Mbombela. This was however not how things would play out in matchday two, that saw an All Black resurgence outclass the Boks at Elis Park and Los Pumas grab a vital victory against the Wallabies. At this point of the tournament, all teams were matched and it was the onset of what would end up being an interestingly tight affair.


With the All Blacks keen to maintain winning ways, Argentina came knocking and just like Ireland before them, they blew past the All Blacks in Christchurch beging the question on whether the all blacks' home dominance had come to an end. On the other side of the Tasman South Africa were stunned by Australia handing them their second consecutive defeat in the championship.
Match day three would see The All Blacks and Springboks register their last losses of the competition as they registered resounding victories against Argentina and Australia in match day 4.
The Championship by this stage would see the All Blacks take a one-point lead at the top of the table with the chasers all having 9 points and separated by points difference.

The Bledisloe Cup came up as a midweek fixture in Melbourne and lived up to expectations, Australia were gunning for the All Blacks Scalp and almost claimed the cup were it not for a controversial refereeing decision at the death that the All Blacks took advantage of and secured the Bled for the 20th consecutive year.
The Boks who travelled to Argentina put up a dominant performance to force the rugby championship to go to a decider on the last match day where they hosted Argentina.
The Wallabies, were out for blood as they crossed over to face New Zealand at Eden Park, Where the All Blacks had yet to loose a test. They would back themselves on their week 5 performance to get them over the edge, however, this was not to be as the All Blacks were clinical as they bagged a 40-14 victory. They would however wait to be crowned after the Boks played the Pumas as that result would affect the final outcome were the Boks to claim a bonus point win with a 40-points difference against Los Pumas.
This became the most anticipated match this side of the equator. The boks had a mountain to climb. Argentina, as has been through out this edition, were not to be written off as they played their hearts out. The boks got the win but it wasn't enough to deny the All Blacks the Title.

What a Championship this has been, going down to the wire. The competition between Southern Hemisphere teams has become tighter with all teams able to rise to the occasion against each other on any given day.