The kings of southern hemisphere rugby will be crowned on Saturday during the final round of Rugby Championship action.
Heading into the home straight, it’s still a four-horse race with last-placed Argentina also in with a shot of winning the trophy.
The action kicks off with New Zealand’s log-leading All Blacks hosting Australia’s Wallabies at Eden Park at 9.05am and concludes with South Africa’s Springboks hosting Argentina’ Pumas at Eden Park at 5.05pm.
The All Blacks, level on 14 log points with the Springboks, are innie binnebaan and have their noses in front with a 13-point points difference advantage.
Victory for coach Ian Foster’s charges in the early match will see them go up to 18 points and a bonus point win - for scoring three or more tries than their opponents - will take them up to 19.
If they win, only the Springboks can overtake them, with the best-case scenario for South Africa being if the Wallabies then deny the All Blacks a bonus point win.
Even if they do get five log points, the Springboks can still win the tournament if they get a bonus point and win by a winning margin 13 points greater than the margin the All Blacks had over the Wallabies.
If the Wallabies win, the competition is blown wide open.
Currently on 10 points, a four-point win will place them level on points with New Zealand and South Africa, while a bonus-point win - provided New Zealand don’t get a bonus point - will see them go top.
Depending on the winning margin, the All Blacks can still stay top - even if they lose without a bonus point.
In the case of an Aussie win any of South Africa and Argentina could still win the competition.
Argentina, currently on nine points, will be out of the running if Australia win with a bonus point and even if they only get the four points, will need a big win against South Africa to win the title.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber summed it up best earlier in the week, saying: “It’s a four-way race, if [the early] result go Australia’s way, they [Argentina] can still win the Rugby Champions.
“It’s gonna be a humdinger. They are passionate like we are and are playing for a championship like we are.”
South Africa - 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Frans Steyn, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Duane Vermeulen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Pumas - 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo de la Source, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Santiago Races, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Thomas Lavanini, 4 Matias German, 3 Eduardo Beautiful, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro. Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Benjamin Urdapilleta and 23 Bautista Delguy.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za