The problem with the Rugby Championship and why disrupted Haka struck a sour note - Fraser Brown

There always seems to be more controversy whenever South Africa or New Zealand are involved and Saturday’s Rugby Championship match between the pair was no exception.

One thing’s for sure, you don’t want to go anywhere near social media in the aftermath of these encounters.

It was a pretty good game - and so too was Argentina v Australia later on Saturday night. But let’s look at South Africa first. When you’re back-to-back world champions it gives you belief and we saw that in the way that the Springboks came back from being 10 points adrift with 11 minutes left to win 31-27.

New Zealand players perform the Haka ahead of the Rugby Championship Test match against South Africa at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

South Africa think they can beat anyone but it takes an enormous self-belief to be that far behind against a New Zealand team who were playing well. We should recognise that it was a good performance from the All Blacks given where they were two games ago, losing at home to Argentina. They’ve regrouped and really they battered the world champions for 50-55 minutes before being edged out.

It makes this weekend’s rematch in Cape Town so interesting. The first game at Ellis Park threw up many talking points, from the All Blacks’ maul try to Bongi Mbonambi’s controversial try for South Africa. We also had another questionable tackle from New Zealand back-rower Sam Cane. But that’s why these games are so good. Test match rugby at the highest level is about fine margins.

There were times during that game on Saturday that I was left wondering if there was a television match official because it was the quietest TMO I can ever remember in an international.

When a TMO jumps in all the time it can be frustrating because you want the game to flow. On Saturday in Johannesburg it felt like a deliberate lack of intervention, a conscious decision to keep things moving and allow the match-day officials on the pitch to make the decisions. I quite like that but I thought Bongi’s try should have been looked at because it seemed suspect. The ball was dislodged and I think Mbonambi loses control of it. It was a great bit of defence by New Zealand and they have a right to be annoyed. I can also understand South Africa’s frustration with the maul try that was awarded to New Zealand.

New Zealand's fly-half Damian McKenzie (C) offloads as he is tackled by South Africa's Ben-Jason Dixon (L) during the Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

New Zealand have to now win in Cape Town this Saturday to keep alive their Rugby Championship hopes but even that is unlikely to be enough. I think they’ll win their final two matches against Australia and I’m fairly certain South Africa will win both their games in Argentina in rounds five and six so, for me, the tournament is done, regardless of this weekend’s result.

The decisive result was New Zealand’s loss at home to Argentina in week one but I still think the All Blacks can match the Boks this weekend although I don’t believe South Africa will play as poorly as they did in the first 50 minutes. New Zealand will be frustrated they didn’t put more points on the board during that period of dominance. I suspect it will be another close game.

Unfortunately, as strong as both South Africa and New Zealand rugby are, the tournament they are playing in is weak and Argentina’s win over the All Blacks on the opening weekend is likely to be the deciding factor in the championship’s outcome. It was a great win for Argentina but I can’t see them mounting sustained pressure over South Africa in the final two rounds, even with one of the games being at home.

Australia are getting better but they are nowhere near the level of South Africa or New Zealand and that is the problem with the Rugby Championship. There are two very good teams and there are two other teams who can be very decent on their day but aren’t consistent enough.

Siya Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse are unlikely to play this weekend because of facial and head injuries respectively and that will hurt South Africa. They will miss Kolisi’s leadership in particular, but at least they are well stocked with back-row options. Arendse is different because they haven’t got a huge amount of quality Test match experience in their back three when he’s not there.

I was impressed with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at 10 for South Africa. He’s relatively inexperienced but, as Rassie Erasmus said last week, they need to keep exposing him to these big-game situations and allowing him to make mistakes. It’s the only way to learn and he looks a natural player with some nice touches.

There’s no doubt 10 is a problem position for the Boks. They’ve got Handré Pollard who has been their clutch player, the man to step up in the big moments and who kicked South Africa to another World Cup last year. But their attacking game suffers massively when he plays. And then there’s Manie Libbok and we all know what a talent he is but his kicking game off the tee lets him down. South Africa need a top quality 10 who can get their attacking game going but still be a reliable kicker and Feinberg-Mngomezulu looks like he could be a prospect if they can keep developing his game.

South Africa are coming to Europe in the autumn and play Scotland at Murrayfield on November 10. It is the end of the southern hemisphere season and there could potentially be fatigue issues but they do get a decent amount of rest at the end of the Rugby Championship which concludes on September 28.

It will be a great challenge for Scotland. We don’t really know where they are at the moment. It was a disappointing World Cup, a disappointing Six Nations and then an experimental summer tour so I think it will be a really big autumn for Scotland, kicking off against Fiji, then continuing with the Boks, Portugal and Australia.

Scotland need to win three as a minimum but it will be tough when you consider the quality we’ve seen in the last round of Rugby Championship matches, with Australia looking more organised under Joe Schmidt.

One sour note at the weekend was the disruption to the Haka. I love the Haka, and so do my kids, who are two and four. It’s theatre. How many times do we talk about rugby trying to be this commercial spectacle which brings people in and the Haka is part of that so I found what happened quite sad. South Africa have since apologised for the fireworks, music and a jet fly-over which drowned it out and the apology has been accepted by New Zealand.

Regardless of the psychological benefits the All Blacks get from the Haka, it’s an important ritual and is also entertaining for fans. How many people turn on a New Zealand game five minutes early to see it? It’s a huge draw and I thought it was poor that the stadium organisers and DJs disrupted it.

South Africa v New Zealand is rugby’s biggest game at the moment, the two best sides in the world playing at prime time on a Saturday. You want it to be the best spectacle possible and hopefully it will go off without incident this weekend.