Like ships passing in the night, the opening two rounds of the 2023 Rugby Championship have come and gone all too quickly for Rugby fans to savour. 

A fortnight of contrasting action saw two blowouts in the opening round, followed by two tense battles in round two. This year’s shortened Championship has provided several key insights into how four of Rugby’s top nations will arrive this September in France for the Rugby World Cup 2023. 

In the ebbing and flowing of form and fortunes, one constant has remained, however: the dominance of the New Zealand All Blacks, who have once again stamped their authority on their Southern Hemisphere rivals. 

The Kiwis have all but secured this season's title by thumping Argentina in round one before blitzing South Africa in the opening and closing twenty minutes of round two. 

Hey Siri ‘What is World Class?’

“Will Jordan is a rugby player from New Zealand”

The Crusaders and All Blacks star is quietly closing in on Antoine Dupont as the best player in the game today.#RugbyChampionship #Rugby #NZLvsRSA #WillJordan pic.twitter.com/m1Lzbd8myC

— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) July 15, 2023

Behind them, the reigning World Champion Springboks pulverised Australia with what many regarded as a second-choice line-up. Only to sleepwalk through the opening twenty minutes in Auckland. 

Argentina’s round one shellacking stirred up some Latin passion for round two as they postponed Eddie Jones’s first victory as a Wallabies coach since November 19^th, 2005. 

Trudging along behind their rivals come Jones and his Wallabies, who got their tournament off with a bang as Marika Koroibete tore the Springboks to shreds. 

This was about as good as it got in Pretoria for the men from down under, as the Boks would go on to score 43 points. 

Whilst losing by just three points to an ascending Pumas side in round two is no slight, it was the manner in which they lost which will most irk Jones and his coaching staff. 

With five minutes left on the clock, the man with the slickest name in rugby Mark Nawaqanitawase went the length of the pitch to put the Wallabies in front. 

Jeez, the Wallabies really blew that one.

But here is the man with the best name in rugby Mark Nawaqanitawase going the length of the pitch in happier times for the Aussies.#RugbyChampionship #AUSvsARG #Wallabies pic.twitter.com/VEua7V5ZI3

— Philip Bendon (@PBendon) July 15, 2023

All that was required from the men in gold was to handle the kick-off, wind down the clock and take some much-needed match points into the final round. 

Yet, as the old adage goes, “winning is a habit”, so too is losing, and as if it was already written, the final three minutes played out like a scene from Jaws as the Pumas closed in on their targets. 

Eventually, Argentina would crash over for the winning try courtesy of No.8 Juan Martin Gonzalez. 

Securing a second successive victory over the Wallabies, Los Pumas confirmed what many to now believe to be the natural order in the Southern Hemisphere. 

At the present moment, the All Blacks and Springboks appear to be a tier above their competitors in the south. Argentina has shown the gap is closing, having now defeated every team away from home since joining the Championship in 2012. 

Australia, however, is not only battling its major international rivals but is facing a challenge to regain a foothold in its domestic sporting market. With both the National Rugby League and Australian Rules Football competitions thriving. 

In this regard, there is no better leader than Jones, who is more than comfortable with throwing the cat amongst the pigeons. His devil-may-care attitude has, at the very least, made the Wallabies relevant. How long this intrigue will last is predicated on results, and thus, round threes clash with the All Blacks is quite possibly the biggest match in Australian Rugby since the 2015 World Cup final.