The Rugby Championship Round 6 Preview - The Grand Finale

The Rugby Championship Round 6 is here with two epic games with the two lower ranked teams hosting their better ranked opponents. 

The Springboks host the All Blacks at Ellis Park in what will be a tensely fought match if it is anything like it was last year. Argentina has their best chance of a win against Australia.  

The All Blacks have won the Rugby Championship 2014 already, but there is still plenty riding on their match a year out from the Rugby World Cup 2015.  The psychological blow that can be dealt by a win for either team. The same could be said for a win by Argentina who could break through psychologically. 

I think in both cases the away teams will win, but expect both games to be high scoring given the history.

For those playing www.testrugby.com you may struggle with the injuries and squad rotations.  Watch for plenty of points in both games and so it is worth chancing your arm with some Wallabies and All Blacks backs in my opinion.

Springboks vs All Blacks

This match should be a classic with the Springboks having the home advantage at Ellis Park where they are traditionally strong.

Both teams feature a mixture of experience and youth.  The Springboks team for this match features plenty of experience, although it will be interesting to see if Duane Vermeulen starts.  A pack featuring Bismarck du Plessis, The Beast, Victor Matfield and Vermeulen and/or Schalk Burger is going to be tough to beat.  

The All Blacks have some injury concerns and have offered starts to Malakai Fekitoa, Joe Moody and Jeremy Thrush. Brodie Retallick is the biggest loss. Beauden Barrett is crucial and it will be interesting to see how he goes in his battle with Handre Pollard.

This match is special for All Blacks captain Richie McCaw who becomes the most capped All Black of all time in his 134th match.  

It will also be interesting to see how Oupa Mohoje goes starting, while Handre Pollard will look to bring more of a running game to the Springboks backline which makes him well suited to playing at Ellis Park where the games are high scoring.   

My pick: All Blacks

Players to watch: www.testrugby.com - Springboks - Victor Matfield, Duane Vermeulen, Bismarck du Plessis and some bargains like Cornal Hendricks, Jan Serfontein and Handre Pollard.
 
All Blacks – Beauden Barrett, Julian Savea, Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock are class, while Jeremy Thrush and Malakai Fekitoa are bargains.

Argentina vs Australia

The Pumas have a proud home record against the Wallabies having won nearly half of their games, but they won’t want a repeat of the 54-17 hiding they got last year.

Kurtley Beale was a bad boy on the flight and has missed selection, while Scott Higginbotham and James Horwill will add some experience to the pack.

The Pumas are tricky customers to beat at home, but they were a bit sluggish against the All Blacks last week and you get the feeling that they are running out of steam in The Rugby Championship. 

They struggle to counter attack quickly, although they showed some good signs towards the end of their defeat last week. They have some injuries, especially in the loose forwards.

The two teams have never met in Mendoza before.

My pick: Australia

Players to watch: For the Wallabies: Bernard Foley, Tevita Kuridrani, Scott Higginbotham, Israel Folau.

For the Pumas: some of their players are excellent value for money.  Agustin Creevy, Joaquín Tuculet, Nicholas Sanchez.