All Blacks beat Argentina, return to top of rugby rankings

Even with a reshuffled backline and an entirely new forward pack from the previous week, New Zealand had enough firepower to beat Argentina 36-13 to overtake South Africa atop the world rugby rankings in an ominous warm-up for the 100th test between the two nations.

The All Blacks needed to beat the Pumas by 15 points to regain the top ranking after Australia completed back-to-back wins over the World Cup champion Springboks with a 30-17 victory in the first match of Saturday's doubleheader at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

With 11 changes to the starting XV from last week's 39-0 win over the Pumas, including regular fullback Damien McKenzie playing at flyhalf, New Zealand dominated early but had to wrestle hard in the second half before improving to 4-0 to lead the Rugby Championship and extending its winning streak to nine tests.

"Clearly we had a number of new combinations but ... delighted with the win," All Blacks head coach Ian Foster said. "I keep harping on a bit, but every team is going to have to dig deep into their well over the next (two weeks) and the strategy of how we went into this game puts us in a pretty going place."

Lock Patrick Tuipulotu, scrumhalf T.J. Perenara and Tupou Vaa'i — long after the halftime siren — scored tries and the New Zealanders led 24-3 at the break, despite having three tries disallowed.

It was 29-6 when hooker

Samisoni Taukei'aho touched down in the right corner six minutes into the second half, but then Argentina rallied hard.

After the big loss on the Gold Coast last start, the Pumas played with more discipline and marshalled around flyhalf Santiago Carreras to work their way back to 29-13 in the 51st minute.

Winger Emiliano Boffelli caught a perfectly placed cross-field kick from Carreras and dived into the left corner for Argentina's first try in two matches, then converted it from the sideline.

The New Zealanders missed another scoring opportunity when replacement scrumhalf Finlay Christie charged down Carreras' attempted clearance kick but fumbled the loose ball at close range.

Argentina spent an extended period of time in the attacking quarter, applying all the pressure but unable to convert it into points, until the All Blacks finished off with a second try to Vaa'i three minutes from the end.

"Second half, we probably paid the price for missing a few opportunities and Argentina really grew through that. They came back really, really well," Foster said. "That 10-15 minute spell toward the end, we showed great tenacity ... and it'll hold us in good stead for what's to come."

Argentina is now 0-4 in the Rugby Championship ahead of next Saturday's test against Australia, which is 2-2 in the tournament.

Pumas coach Mario Ledesma praised the improvement in his squad, but said there needed to be a bigger lift if Argentina is to register a win in the tournament.

"Very proud of the effort and the commitment," Ledesma said. "Big jump from last weekend, but we still have to improve."

The major focus next Saturday in the doubleheader in Townsville, in the north of Australia's Queensland state, is the All Blacks facing the Springboks.

Foster watched the first 50 minutes of the Australia-Springboks game and said it was "probably the first time that the South Africans have played with a team that plays with a lot of tempo in the last two years. They'll learn a lot from that."

He was expecting a typically "torrid" game to mark the century of tests between the All Blacks and Springboks.

"Trust me, we love playing test matches but we really love playing South Africa, probably because of the amount of respect we've got for them," Foster said. "Over history it's been an outstanding rivalry, so we're not so much talking about No. 1 and No. 2.

"We've got a chance to go to Townsville, play a foe we've got a lot of respect for, and put ourselves in a pretty nice position in this championship."

Australia clinches back-toback test wins over Springboks

Australia regained the Mandela Plate with a 30-17 win over World Cup champion South Africa on

Saturday, giving Dave Rennie back-to-back test wins for the first time as Wallabies head coach.

His counterpart, Jacques Nienaber, later apologized to South Africa's rugby supporters, saying the Springboks' performance wasn't worthy of the jersey.

The Wallabies needed a lastminute penalty goal from recalled flyhalf Quade Cooper last Sunday for a 28-26 win on the Gold Coast, but led for most of the match in front of almost 40,000 people at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium

Len Ikitau scored two first-half tries and Marika Koroibete crossed for two in the second half to earn a Rugby Championship bonus point for Australia.

It was a memorable win for Michael Hooper to mark his record 60th test as Wallabies captain. The consecutive wins were the first since Rennie took charge following the 2019 World Cup, and a real boost for the Australians following a run of losses to New Zealand.

"We talked a lot about going back-to-back here. Building one performance is good but we wanted to go again on these guys," Hooper said. "That's the luxury of playing them twice in a row."

The South Africans scored three tries from rolling mauls on the Gold Coast but didn't have the same success at Suncorp, with the Wallabies stepping up in that department and holding firm in defense despite conceding the majority of possession and penalties and making almost twice the number of tackles.

"We weren't up to scratch last week in the mauling game (and) we knew they'd come back even harder there," Hooper said. "We matched that."

The Australians led 15-12 at halftime, with South Africa's points coming from Handre Pollard's four penalty goals.

Both teams gave up a one-man advantage in the opening half, with Springboks scrumhalf Faf de Klerk yellow carded for a cynical foul and Wallabies flanker Lachie Swinton sin-binned for his shoulder-on-shoulder contact and head collision with No. 8 Duane Vermeulen in the 33rd minute.

South Africa went ahead 17-15 less than two minutes into the second half with de Klerk orchestrating the attack. The veteran scrumhalf took a quick tap from a penalty to put the defense on the back foot and later sent a perfectly weighted grubber kick down the blindside from the ruck base for center Lukhanyo Am to score a try in the corner.

But with Cooper and Samu Kerevi providing composure and direction in midfield, the Australians were able to regain the lead via a penalty in the 51st before winger Koroibete broke open the game with a pair of tries in the 62nd and 68th minutes.

His first followed stunning leadup work from tighthead prop Taniela Tupou, who surged down the left sideline, drew in the defense and then, without looking, passed from his right hand under his left armpit to his flying winger in support.