Another trophyless year for New Zealand in the Rugby Championship?

After three consecutive years as the winners of the Rugby Championship, New Zealand were forced to part with the trophy as South Africa once again proved they are the best side in the world.

Will the All Blacks bounce back in the 2025 edition of the tournament? Promotioncodes.co.za are predicting it will be Springboks’ year once again.

Six games came and went in 2024, with New Zealand managing to win half of their matches in a campaign that was underwhelming at best. The 2025 tournament brings renewed hope that they can pip South Africa to the trophy, but are they ready to take to the field and beat the double world champions?

This year will see New Zealand immediately given the chance to go one better than they managed last year as they take on Argentina in their opening two matches. In 2024, the Pumas were able to secure a statement 38-30 win over the All Blacks in Wellington to begin the competition in shocking style.

While New Zealand did bounce back with a 42-10 win over the same opponents at Eden Park, the damage was already done. Their defeat in game one put them on the backfoot immediately as South Africa extracted two big wins over Australia and moved clear at the top of the standings.

This year, New Zealand travel to Argentina. In 2024, the Pumas were able to take wins over Australia (67-27) and South Africa (29-28) on their own patch, showing that this will be anything but a walkover.

If the All Blacks are serious about challenging in 2025, they must find a way to notch two wins against the Pumas and match the likely brace of victories South Africa will secure against the Aussies.

Their second round of games brings their biggest challenge. Two matches against the world champions follow in a set of games that will likely decide New Zealand’s fate in the competition.

A single win against South Africa keeps them in contention to win the trophy. Two defeats will see them all but out of the running, while two wins will put them in pole position to reclaim the trophy if they can also beat Argentina twice.

These two games will see two of the best sides in the game battling for supremacy across the pitch. New Zealand’s forwards are incredibly powerful, but South Africa have become known for boasting the best pack in the game.

In the backs, New Zealand and South Africa are well-matched, with power, pace and finesse in abundance from their starters and the bench. Sometimes games are won and lost not based on moments of brilliance, but on handling errors and the bounce of the ball. In games with such tight margins, it could come down to which of the two teams makes fewer mistakes.

The two sides will hammer into each-other across 160 minutes, and it would not be surprising to see two games akin to the tight matches that saw South Africa win 31-27 and 18-12 last year. At home, New Zealand will believe they have enough to win twice, but South Africa will have other ideas.

Their final set of matches will see the All Blacks hosting Australia before then travelling to take them on in their final game of the tournament. New Zealand have a 70%-win ratio against the Aussies, winning 126 of their 179 meetings. Australia are improving with each year that goes by, but they are still someway short of the sides above them.

Only two wins will do against the men in gold, with Australia statistically the weakest team in the competition as they sit in eighth in the men’s rankings, behind Argentina (fifth), New Zealand (second) and South Africa (first). Anything other than a pair of wins over the Aussies would be a major disappointment.

Scott Robertson’s first handful of matches in charge have been positive statistically, with the new coach winning 10 of his opening 14. While Robertson’s tenure has been short, coaches for New Zealand are judged from game one. The quality of players currently in the squad means expectation is high, whether they are playing against the best in the world or not.

This year, New Zealand will be judged on whether they can reclaim the Rugby Championship trophy and notch their 10^th triumph in 13 iterations of the competition. However, South Africa may yet prove too strong for them to beat twice, while Argentina have already shown that they can ruffle New Zealand’s feathers.

For Robertson and co, this season may have to end without a Rugby Championship trophy as they look to build towards the future and the 2027 Rugby World Cup.