Ex-All Blacks star issues candid verdict on the standard of this year’s Rugby Championship
Los Pumas players celebrate after beating the All Blacks in Buenos Aires and former All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald (inset).
Former All Blacks playmaker Stephen Donald has sung the praises of this year’s Rugby Championship after the opening two rounds of the prestigious Southern Hemisphere tournament.
For the first time since 2022 all four countries involved in the tournament each have a victory under their belt after two rounds of action.
Little separating the teams
That means there is everything to play for in the remaining four rounds of the Rugby Championship as only two points are currently separating the sides in the standings.
The All Blacks are currently setting the pace atop the table with six points while the Wallabies are in second position, just one point adrift, while the Springboks and Los Pumas have each amassed four points.
In the first round, Australia claimed a shock 38-22 victory over South Africa in Johannesburg while New Zealand secured a 41-24 triumph over Argentina in Cordoba.
The tournament takes a break this weekend but will resume on September 6 when New Zealand and South Africa face off in an eagerly anticipated battle at Eden Park in Auckland while Australia host Argentina at North Queensland Stadium in Townsville.
The Boks gained revenge over the Wallabies this past weekend as they sealed a 30-22 win in Cape Town, while in Buenos Aires Los Pumas stunned the All Blacks as they won 29-23 – a momentous result as it was the home side’s first ever triumph against the men in black on Argentinian soil.
It’s a far cry from previous Rugby Championships where one side was dominating proceedings – usually the All Blacks – with the Springboks currently the defending champions after also winning all their matches in last year’s competition.
And although his country suffered that defeat to Argentina on Saturday, Donald, who kicked the match-winning penalty for the All Blacks in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, was full of praise for the standard of this year’s Rugby Championship.
“I think we’ve always dreamt that this day would come where it is this sort of level of competition,” he said on The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav podcast.
‘Four of the very best teams in the world’
“I mean, literally, historically, these are four of the very best teams in the world. Four of the top six, probably. And we’ve always anticipated us having a championship where each week’s going to be game on.
“And now I think we’re sitting back and going ‘we’ve got Aussie back playing brilliantly’. The Argentinians, I won’t give them the consistent word yet, because that’s probably still going to be the big hurdle for them to jump over.
“But we’ve all known for a long time that they’ve got big games in them.
“It’s brilliant. It’s a competition. You don’t watch sport unless you don’t know the result.
“Like if I know the ending, I’d rather watch a movie.”
READ MORE: Ex-All Black: ‘Statistically’ Australia should have beaten the Springboks