Sports Blog 23/08/2018: Rugby Championship Preview – New Zealand vs Australia/Argentina vs South Africa, Saturday 25th August 2018

Will the Kiwis wallop the Wallabies once against as New Zealand host Australia in the 2nd week of the 2018 Rugby Championship on Saturday?

Steve Hansen’s side proved why they are far and away favourites to retain their title last weekend. While it took them 38 minutes to get any points on the board, trailing to a pair of early Aussie penalties from Reece Hodge and Bernard Foley, once New Zealand got going they really got going.



After Aaron Smith scored a try just before the break, the Kiwis ran wild in the 2nd half, with a late brace from Waisake Naholo – who crossed the line twice within a minute – preceded by tries from Jack Goodhue, Beuden Barrett and Brodie Retallik. New Zealand eventually came away from the ANZ Stadium with a 38-13 victory – a win that could have been even greater if Barrett hadn’t missed a pair of conversion – and a bonus point for scoring more than 3 tries.

That leaves New Zealand with a pretty big lead on Spreadex’s Outright Index – where the winner gets 50 points, the runners-up 25, 3rd place 10 and 4th place 0. The Kiwis are at 46.5-48.5, with South Africa at 18-21, Australia at 13.5-15.5 and Argentina – who failed to pick up a single point, not even a bonus point, last year – at 2.5-4.5.

Turning to the weekend and the hosts are expected to romp to another hefty win at Eden Park, with Spreadex offering a New Zealand/Australia Points Supremacy spread of 22-25.

In the weekend’s other fixture, Argentina will attempt to go one better than last year and actually nab a point when they host South Africa in Mendoza.

Things were typically poorly for Los Pumas in their competition opener. They came away from their trip to Durban with a 34-21 defeat, the Springboks led to victory by a pair of try-braces from Aphiwe Dyanti and Makazole Mapimpi, and single efforts from Lukanhyo Am and Francois de Klerk (Handre Pollard was less impressive, scoring a third of his potential conversions).

For their part, Argentina were spirited, and had actually left at points in the 1st half thanks to tries from Federico Sanchez – who succeeded in all 3 of his conversion attempts – and Pablo Matera, with promise in the 2nd half as Matias Moroni put his name on the board.

As for Saturday, the hosts have a slightly better chance of getting something from the game, with Spreadex offering a South Africa/Argentina (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 5-8.