It will come as no surprise, but New Zealand have won the Rugby Championship for the 3rd consecutive time. Their 17-35 defeat of Argentina in Buenos Aires may not have been their best performance of the tournament, but it was a welcome bounce back after their loss to South Africa in the last round. Meanwhile, Australia – the only other team to have won the tournament in its 4-team format – find themselves bottom of the table with just one match left after a 23-12 loss in Port Elizabeth.
South Africa 23-12 Australia
He’s been scoring regularly in the tournament this year, but I’m still not sold on Aphiwe Dyantyi for the Springboks. The flyer from the Lions has scored 5 tries so far but I feel that quite a few of them have been down to being in the right place at the right time and benefitting from the players inside him – though I suppose that is a big part of playing on the wing. I often feel that away from the line he is too quick to put boot to ball rather than taking the contact and recycling, which has wasted a number of possessions for South Africa. Defensively as well he looks vulnerable. At the death against New Zealand, his flying out the line did enough to make Damian McKenzie knock on to end the game, but rushing out is not always the option. He did it so many times against Australia, a backline performing better (more on that soon) would have taken advantage of it and isolated him to break down his wing. He was also completely outjumped at a crosskick by Israel Folau close to the line and was lucky Australia couldn’t capitalise from it. He looks like he could be a great player and a dangerous asset for the Springboks in the coming years, but he still has work to do to reach his best.
The Australian back line is a mess! I’ve wrote previously how I think that finding another 10 to compete with Bernard Foley is a smart idea, but Kurtley Beale is not the answer as he needs more space to work his magic. As if that wasn’t bad enough, once the subsitutions started, players seemed to be moving everywhere! Foley came on but appeared to be in the centre with Folau, Toomua moved to fly half, Beale was at fullback, Hodge and Haylett-Petty covered the wings. I like how versatile all the players are, but that formation makes no sense at all! Too often in this tournament the Wallabies’ back line has looked fairly impotent and in this match it felt like any real danger to South Africa came from the back 3 returning kicks and other moments of broken play. I think they are missing the physical presence of Tevita Kuridrani or Samu Kerevi – who are both out injured – in the midfield. But injuries happen and Cheika does not appear to be able to find a formula that works in their absence.
Argentina 17-35 New Zealand
When most rugby fans my age or older think of Argentinian rugby, they probably remember the days of dominant packs pushing their opposition around the park. That is sadly no longer the case. The Pumas scrum was manhandled by the All Blacks and the lineout struggled at times, going 11/16, with captain Agustin Creevy struggling to hit his man at the top of his jump. In part, I would imagine they are struggling due players based away from Argentina not being available – most of these lads play for Los Jaguares, who will face strong packs but not necessarily international quality scrums – and also due to the move towards a more fluid, expansive game. I’m not blaming the Pumas’ exciting backline – it’s a joy to watch in full flight – but they need to go back to basics and shore up their set piece, otherwise the backs will never have a platform to allow them to reach their full potential. If they can do that… they will be a danger at the World Cup.
Sonny Bill Williams made his first appearance of the tournament yesterday, which just highlights the quality of options available to New Zealand. Through the tournament, Williams, Ryan Crotty, Ngani Laumape, Jack Goodhue and Anton Lienert-Brown have all started in the centre positions. Not many other nations could boast even close to that strength in depth! While both Williams and Crotty played well in this match, I don’t think they provided the same quality of attacking ball that some of the other options have. My personal pick would be to have Laumape at 12, where his physical approach is hard to stop on the gain line, and Goodhue at 13, where he has played a crucial part in a number of breaks while also doing a solid job in defence, something that has been key to Crotty’s selection in the past. Off the bench I would then select Lienert-Brown, who does not always appear to have the best of impacts from the start, but fully takes advantage of gaps left by a tiring defence. With Laumape (25) the oldest of this trio (Williams is 33 and Crotty 30), if they become the main options in the centre now, they will be good enough to potentially win a third successive World Cup and then be reaching their best years as the All Blacks approach RWC2023, much in the way Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith grew together into arguable the best centre pairing of the last 10 years.
Right, that’s enough kayfabe for now, let’s be serious here.
Andrew Ghai, in a fit of madness maybe caused by having his hair ruffled earlier by Dale The Dude, tackled John Rocha and found himself quickly suspended for 3 months. Would a spell away from the league calm these 2 own? No chance!
It is with Ghai though that we see the real fun. He returned to the league with 
The important thing, though, is that they can back up the heel attitudes with the performances. From watching their matches and their Schmoedown chats on their Patreon, they have good knowledge of movies but are some of the best players of the game itself. They strategise how to beat someone – look at Ghai not giving Murrell Sports Movies as he had likely studied this after getting it in his loss to Harloff – while also knowing when it is worth using a JTE rule and (especially Bateman) using all of the allotted time to answer the question and ensure they are getting it right. They have also proved to have strengths in categories many competitors would prefer to shy away from like Oscars, Comedies and Movie Release Dates.
Records of 2-3 (Bateman) and 2-1 (Ghai) may not seem amazing for the way I’ve hyped them up, but I can’t think of anyone who has had a tougher opening 3 matches than Ghai’s 3 former champions, while 2nd place in a Fatal Fiveway and losses to 2 competitors on their way to title shots is nothing for Bateman to be disappointed about! Even as a team, their 4 losses have come to Nerd’s Watch (who reached a Number 1 Contender match) and Top 10 and Above the Line, who have both held the Team Belts – these guys don’t lose to just anybody!
But what next for these 2? 
The Founding Fathers took a strong lead in Round 1, with a combined score of 12 (7 for Rocha, 5 for Dan) while Wait, I know This struggled to keep up as often it turned out Winston (1/8) didn’t know this, though Stacy went under the radar and picked up an impressive 6 points to keep her team in the hunt.
I really liked the chemistry between Winston and Stacy in this match and think it is a shame they were facing one of the strongest teams in the tournament in their opener. Unfortunately with The World’s Finest having done so well in their rookie season, I can’t see Wait, I Know This remaining as a team long-term. As for the Founding Fathers, they will have tougher tests, but scoring 20 points in 2 rounds despite spinning Opponent’s Choice will have put the league on notice. Murrell is back and looks set to prove the Ghai loss was nothing more than a blip, while Rocha appears to have new life alongside Murrell and this could help draw out some of his best ever performances.
Round 1 was a close affair as Mara – who has sometimes struggled in the opening round – looked to be on form with a score of 7, but Jason was showing his championship credentials by getting 8/10. Brad Gilmore from the Schmoedown Rundown won’t be happy though as once again both competitors missed on a question about the Back to the Future films!
And so Mara Knopic became the first female to win a solo title in the Schmoedown, following hot on the heels of 
It was always going to be difficult to beat an ending as good as the Horsemen reveal, but the arrival of KOrruption to interrupt Mara’s post-match interview and announce that Mike will be taking on Mara for the title at Schmoedown Spectacular 3 without having to go though a contender match to earn a spot. As a beaten finalist in the tournament I can understand Kalinowski being in the hunt for the next title shot and with the Ultimate Schmoedown Teams and Singles Tournaments still to go there obviously isn’t much time to fit in Innergeekdom matches between now and Spectacular, but it is still a shock to see Kalinowski get a free pass to another title match. I guess it helps to be friends with the Commissioner.
There was a great moment during Inman’s entrance when Rocha and Ghai (in the crowd) fronted up to each other before shaking each other’s hand. This was a great moment as it shows Ghai’s victories over Murrell and Reilly have earned him even the grudging respect of the Outlaw ahead of their contenders match
Hey may not be the best of competitors, but we need so much more of Coy Jandreau as a manager in the league. His charisma and enthusiasm is wonderful and I think he could do a great job as a manager for a competitor who is not so confident with their promos. I think we could see a few other managers along similar lines as the Anarchy tournament goes on
Eyes on the Ball 