round four of the 2024 rugby Championship has been and gone and what do we learn from this round well the spring box are still the big dogs in World rugby and are rightly sitting pretty at top of the world rugby rankings with a fourth consecutive victory over the All Blacks and with it a First Freedom cup since 2009 and crucially one hand on that rugby championship trophy on the other side of the Atlantic Los Pumas kept their campaign alive as the exact revenge in a big way against the wallabies with an absolute thumping handing Joe Schmidt's side a record defeat for Australian rugby with a 67 to 27 win uh in in Santa Fe rather which was one of the most ey raising results we have seen in International Rugby for quite some time and we'll get to that in a few minutes away from the rugby Championship the Pacific Nations cup had two highly entertaining clashes with Fiji Downing Tonga to take top honors in pool a before Japan saw off a lucky USA in pool B to take top spot there that there therefore decided our semi-finals which we'll see next week with Japan facing Samoa defending Champion Samoa that is and Fiji taking on um the United States whilst Canada and Tonga are going to play in what should be a bruising and entertaining fifth sixth playoff um all taking place in Japan next weekend so definitely worth tuning into that on the domestic front the top 14 returned and with it some fantastic results and highly entertaining games um for those in the UK ow Farrell's ratting 92 were pipped to the Post in the last few seconds as um car scored an otherworldly try to uh take a win in round one and um start own Farrell's tenure in Paris not on the best of notes but it was a highly entertaining fixture um and then on the URC front of the Premiership front the uh all those sides were continuing their preseason buildup with several preseason games taking place uh across the board for that so highly entertaining round of rugby and plenty of action to sink our teeth into so let's start off with that rugby Championship so as we touched on before it was the Box fourth win in a row in uh against the All Blacks which is the first time since the 1940s that that has happened so huge huge boost for rasi arasmus and his men and it's almost mindblowing to think that it's their first Freedom cup uh in a span where they've two won two Rugby World Cups so huge amount of um Kudos goes to rassi and his side so that match was kind of delving into a i ironically or eerily similar to last weekend's fixture at Ellis Park Al be at a lot less tries were scored um with the All Blacks taking a halftime lead courtesy of the boot of Damen McKenzie and the BOK attack just not really flowing but again due in large part to the All Blacks bringing a physical Edge in that first half but as was the case in Ellis Park the more the match wore on the more the Box got into the ascendancy so in terms of discipline the two sides were pretty equal the Box conceded 14 penalties to the All Blacks 13 with both sides having two yellow cards now rather controversially the All Blacks possibly should have had another yellow card right at the beginning beginning of the match with hundre polard being taken out in the air um there was a lot of debate raging about that whether polard should have uh not polard sorry whether the old black should have had a yellow card for that but they weren't uh um weren't hammered for that one on that on that side of thing so in the end it was two yellow cards a piece um on that front but again this this bck team what they do so well is they just grow into a contest now the bomb squad obviously are highly heralded and even when it's not a 6-2 or 7-1 split they just bring so much impact Off the Bench and you could really see that with the Box having 65% of The Possession for the final 10 minutes um and the All Blacks really really struggling to contain them now going back to their first try cis's uh beautiful beautiful uh beautifully work piece throughout there um starting with a bit of magic where chz and kobby sprinted in took the ball off Malcolm marks at the last second threw into the line out hit his marker now this allowed the box to have eight of their eight of their forwards straight away around the mall getting ready to go now the All Blacks did very well to bring that mle down and hold them off but by that point the box then had plenty of numbers in the Outfield and KY capitalized to get that first try it was a really great Innovative piece of thinking which a lot of the time and they are starting to get it now but historically the Box haven't been credited as being such an Innovative team which they really really are and obviously they're two World Cup to test to that so it was really great to see how they're thinking outside the box and whether that was Tony Brown or rassie or or sort of a sort of an accumulative effort of coaches it was really great thinking to get chesin in there and and again just kind of makes that argument of just how valuable Colby is to the box and just how World Class the Winger really is I mean he's just a Do-it all and sort of you know obviously deont is is rightly regarded as as as the the best player in the world probably everywhere outside of outside of South Africa but col's right there with him so really great to see uh that side of things then the Malcolm marks try which sealed the match really sealed the deal um was just pure power a really well set mole really great time here by Marx when he broke away interestingly seu re could be seen almost arguing with the ref or trying to you know claim something was happening and he looked a little bit distracted and it wasn't a great outing for ree as o overall he was one of the yellow cards for the All Blacks and actually he's quite fortunate not to have a a red card in that side of things but Marx timed it perfectly still super powerful um got right in for that try now there's obviously been questions about Marx who's who's enjoyed a lot of injuries over the last few years whether he's as dynamic as he was at his Peak I think it's probably fair to say he's not but he's just such an intelligent player that was all down to timing and then obviously backed his strength to get over the line and really seal it now the all black still had a penalty opportunity and they went for for a line out and guess who Peter step to Toy made the steal and that sealed the deal at um right at the end for the Box um in what was a really impressive and telling performance for the All Blacks there's a few concerns um namely their their inability to get impact Off the Bench uh in in the way they used to um um as as the Box rolled on their bench you could see their Tempo going up their power going up their meters post contact going up whereas when the All Blacks started taking off their starters their performance began to dip so they didn't get that impact that you would historically associate with an all black bench um and what was really a concerning sign for um Scott Robertson's side when we look at other key takeaways from that side of things Damen McKenzie who's a phenomenal player having seen him live on a few occasions the guy is is is a magician he's fantastic a really great player but what is seems to be missing at the moment with him is that he doesn't seem to get the best out of those around him for whatever reason it just doesn't look quite right and the all black attack isn't clicking now whether that's McKenzie or the system that the All Blacks are trying to run I mean you know far far more experienced people than then myself will be able to tell you on that front but McKenzie just does not seem to be able to get his centers over the gain line doesn't really seem to be all that much of a line breaking threat himself which is bizarre given his style of play um and seems to be almost taking on too much um when you look at the penalty shots at Gold he was taking on the longrange shots despite Jordy Barrett clearly having a bigger Boot and better accuracy from that sort of range so there just seems to be a bit of muddle thinking in the all black setup at the moment and doesn't seem to have Clarity that you would normally associate with the All Blacks case and point on this is that the Box missed a whopping 30 seven tackles and historically the All Blacks would absolutely have punished them for that now I know that the BOK Rush d means that perhaps that Miss tackle stat isn't quite as important because you got guys coming out of the line hard causing um you know opposition to make mistakes and someone else is covering for them and that goes down as a m tackle but 37 M tackles in that point all black teams of the past would have capitalize and scored and punish the box for that but credit to the Box their cover D and their scramble D was phenomenal as it always is I mean they're able to get right back into um covering up any sort of half breaks that the All Blacks had and holding them to zero tries almost unheard of and of all the venues in South Africa Cape Town's the one they've historically enjoyed the most the All Blacks so really great for the box to get a win at that that incredible stadium that Cape toown Stadium um where the DHL stormers obviously play their rugby was was great for uh rasi Rasmus and his team which started with a bang with that incredible fly over that Passover if you haven't seen it already you definitely check it out on that side of things for the Box quite a few interesting takeaways hundre polard versus Sasha fineberg and Gulu is the big talking point at 10 at the moment for me Sasha is the future and he's the present I mean he brings a huge attacking element to the game line um which was evidence you know he came off the bench today and he was the second made the second most meteors in the Box he's just got that spark about him hundre you know ice running through his veins he's a match winner he's won two Rugby World Cups his goal kicking is still by far the best in the Box Squad Sasha is a good goal Ki goal kicker but he's got a long way to go to get up to pol's level of consistency and nailing the ones that count um so you can see that there's two different styles from a playing style sty sort of style polard brings a bit more control it looks a bit calmer he kind of relies on his pack he gets the forwards going where Sasha brings the back line into things a little bit more it's more of a running threat himself and if they're looking to really commit to a wide game under Tony Brown then Sasha is clearly the man for that but what it does show is that it's just an abundance of riches in South African rugby at the moment with the two players offering such contrasting Styles you can kind of pick and choose depending on who you're playing or or Rassy can rather and having Sasha on the bench as an impact option is is also you know great and then you know don't forget Manny leok his goal kicking woses have obviously SE seen him drop way down the pecking order but the guy's a phenomenal attacking option and and certainly not to be discounted on that that side of things same with you know C muku is a great goal kicker for the the Sharks and he'll get a chance at some point even with his elevated age for for a rookie if you are um as well as you know there's several other options uh knocking about with you know Jordan Hendrick has got his first cap this year which was an interesting left field option but at the moment paulart and feberg and Gulu Sash feberg and Gulu are the two main men in the 10 Channel and it gives the Box a lot of Versatility on that side of things um the other big positive obious the bomb squad it's there's very few sides in the world that can live with it at the moment probably Ireland and France I would imagine England under as they get more time on the B will get a bit better and possibly able to handle it but the All Blacks don't have the horses uh to do it the WABE certainly don't we don't know about the Pumas yet but we'll find out um when they face off over these next two rounds so the big takeaways from that again a little recap is that paard brings control but lacks that Cutting Edge of vinberg and Gulu for the Box positive for them is that you've got the bomb squad for the All Blacks Damen McKenzie Still not sold on him as the First Choice 10 let us know what your thoughts on on dmac is dmac are in in the comments below obviously a phenomenal player but just doesn't feel quite right whereas Richie moang was just pulling the string so well and obviously with his relationship with Razer Robertson it'll be really interesting to see um if there's a change in the all black selection policy or whether they can get him back to New Zealand and reinstall him as the First Choice 10 because that at the moment that looks like the best option for New Zealand um and then they're lacking a little bit of quality Off the Bench across the board but at 10 that would that would make a big difference um positives for the new for the new zealanders you know they really did go toe-to-toe with the box for 65 minutes really 70 minutes they just couldn't withstand that power game but they did show that they can front up they just need more depth to be able to take on the box so it'll be really interesting to see how New Zealand Rugby develops over the next next year on the Razer and um don't count the All Blacks out just yet but from my mind right now they're firmly behind the box they're firmly behind Ireland ALB obviously they knocked Ireland out in the Rugby World Cup they're behind France and they they beat England twice this year but England are coming forth so they're in that mix of the top five teams in the world but they're not certainly not number one Ireland and South Africa definitely are ahead of them France are probably ahead of them and then England are challenging them so that's my recap of the South Africa new Zealand game moving on to Argentina and Australia it was just a week removed from the wall be's first win in this year's rugby Championship with that late Ben Donaldson penalty securing a win in a miserable miserable uh set of conditions for them in laata but fast forward a week to Julian Montoya the the L Puma Skipper is 100th cap and L Pumas how they turned around for the most magical second half of rugby is beyond me AR Australia LED this one at the break by three points and they were looking good Ben Donaldson was on form he was pulling strings I mean his vision was fantastic his kicking was great Ma coretti was everywhere all over the park Andrew kellway scored a superb try and was all over the park for them as was Max Jorgenson who is a hell of a talent that Australian rugby cannot afford to lose to the NRL Alla Carter Gordon and Mark noong ganasi who to add a bit of insult to injury are taking the NRL by storm and looked like Real Deals there so hopefully rugby Australia down the line can get those two back but back to the match in Santa Fe the the wallabies will probably be most disappointed by the fact that they just looked like they gave almost gave up and Switched Off in the last 10 15 minutes they conceded four tries in the final 10 minutes which Joe Schmidt will just find unacceptable and it's one of those ones that's going to sting them for a long time up to I would say 55 60 Minutes the wallabies for me were the better team they were holding off L Pumas they were frustrating their host They Were Striking when they had their chance and they were looking really good it was really a jate effort Harry Wilson was phenomenal and of all the Wes at the moment he is the one who could be close to a world 15 he's so good the C the new captain he was it was phenomenal at number eight for them um but BOS Puma has made a couple of interesting changes at the break notably bringing on Santi Carreras um at fullback and shifting one Chris Malia to the wing now Carrera coming on alongside Albero gave Los Pumas that really interesting double distribution sort of game plan um with both sides of the rock they had really good Distributors they had two kicking options and they just went after uh the the Wes prior to that they were struggling On The Fringe defense um with Deli getting result um getting substituted halim and obviously Malia shifting to the wing that really shorted things up because both wings were exposed I mean Mato Carreras who was phenomenal in attack and exploded after 20 minutes he was exposed in the beginning of the games when the Wes were really kind of working down his channel he missed two tackles and and really was found wanting in Andrew kellaway's try which was which was a piece of M moment of Brilliance from ma Ben Donaldson and Max Jorgenson to get kellway kellway away that's quite a word salad but it was you know Dan Carreras his wing that's Mato Carz now the Winger grew into the contest and ended up with the most meters and scored a fantastic try um sort of very similar to the way he was playing in Wellington just hitting great lines um so was really interesting that kind of came from that double distributor which is a real nod to the fact that Carreras Santi Carreras normally plays at fullback for Gloucester in fact he played all the bar one game at fullback for for the Premiership team and actually you know he looked great in Wellington at 10 and he certainly can do a job there but having him and Albero really looks like they take the pressure off each each other and it kind of gives the defense a new look every time from each Rock and really gives them you know two kicking options two great Distributing options and should be the way forward so it'll be really interesting to see if they go with that option of Malia and Carreras on the wing and then s Mato Carreras on the wing sorry that is and Sandy Carreras at fullback with Albero a 10 against the Box because that looks like their best way to get to The Fringe Fringe of the defenses especially with that Bok Rush D where you have Chu Barz and cinty are really strong in the centers they'll be able to carry into that heart of that defense and then having those two two Distributors which we'll we'll get into more depth in the preview but that could be their key to getting over the Box uh in their two matches it'll be really interesting to see for the wallabies it's really back to the drawing board for Joe Schmidt I mean when you concede 67 points is as ridiculous as it sounds it almost feels like you need to just park the bus and forget about that one that was such an anomaly I mean you know they're weak removed from winning and then to concede four tries in that final 10-minute span was just unacceptable at at test level and it's going to sting and so it should for this this group of players but you know I saw an interesting comment funny enough on Facebook so shout out to whoever wrote this if they have enough conviction you've got to remember that the spring box lost I believe it was 59 n to the All Blacks if if the wallabies have enough conviction and they want to get it right this is does not mean that Australian rugby is dead they can come back there are talented players there Jorgenson's talented he's flying along and you know he's only 20 years old kellway is great form Donaldson's doing really well Noah lolio has looks quite good so far so you know Harry Wilson you know there's there's a lot of a lot of um good players coming through they just need to nurture them whether they can get a result against the old blacks you wouldn't bet against them at home actually being able to turn the All Blacks over but again we'll get to that in the preview at some point but that was that was very disappointing result for them now moving on to the key stats um starting with scrum off Gonzalo bero for um Argentina he was phenomenal his passing game was off the charts he had his team going forward but defensively the scrum half put in double digit tackles many of which were out in the wider channels and he ended up with two turnovers for arguably I would say his best performance in a um Argentina Jersey to date as were a lot of other players so looking at the key stats on this one let's go through this one Cru Mia ended up with the most carries 21 carries and he ended just a fraction short of 100 meters on 93 scored two tries on that he had I think believe it was three offloads multiple line breaks he was phenomenal from through from throughout the match so the uh the tulo star is really really world class and looked more comfortable on the wing than he did at fullback so when they shifted him across looked much better topping The Meters made Mato Carreras ended up with 118 MERS for a really great return turn um whilst Marcus Kramer ended up with 16 tackles as the top tackle uh tackler for Los Pumas in in a match where outside of the first 45 minutes they didn't do all that much tackling so the back row had a great game as did his counterparts um in the back row with um Pablo Mata being an absolute monster and one Martin Gonzalez operating a number eight as a brilliant distributor between the forwards and backs he's just a great link player who looks so comfortable in The Wider channels for the wallabies Andrew kellway top the carries with 14 and meters made with 101 again one of his best performances for the wallabies in what was a really weird game to assess um while Carlo Tano topped The Tackle charts once again with 18 he's been a hell of a fine for the wallabies again another one of these Brides Sparks that they can build around in the forward pack they really do have some good bed Bedrock there so WBY fans don't lose hope just yet they are going to go the right way you've got the right coach in place and you've got plenty of good players coming through key takeaways for me Los pumes love a dry pitch but they can't seem to play in bad weather it it look from what the commentators were saying it was 30° C it was a dry pitch it looked fantastic lovely surface there and the wab the Puma rather play such an uptempo game so really interesting how um the contrast between the two on that side of things uh the Dual playmaker role as we've kind of gone into detail with over there that looks like the way forward for Filipe kapom side having those double Distributors having the two kicking options it just gives so many different looks to the defense and and feels like the the right option for Los Puma is going forward for the Wes hate to say but they just gave up in that final 15 minutes there was no work r no effort just soaking tackles missing tackles it was just no good um and uh was obviously reflected in the scores but if you're looking for positives they look brilliant for 50 minutes there is positives there for for the Aussies to take forward and World rugby needs a strong Australia so that was was my recap of the rugby Championship don't forget flow rugby if you're living in the 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