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RUGBY WRAP: Springboks fall short of Championship title; clean sweep for SA teams in URC and close calls in Premiership

We look back at the conclusion of The Rugby Championship, the second round of the URC and round three of the Premiership!

We look back at the conclusion of The Rugby Championship, the second round of the URC and round three of the Premiership.

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TRC R6: Durban win not enough for Boks

Unfortunately, the Springboks’ 38-21 defeat of Argentina at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in the final match of The Rugby Championship on Saturday wasn’t enough for them to win the title. Jacques Nienaber’s men headed into the match needing a 40-point win against the Pumas to finish first following the All Blacks’ victory in Bledisloe 2 earlier in the day – something that was always going to be a tall order.

It was nowhere near a classic, with six yellow cards awarded on the day, but the world champions will take the good and look ahead to a daunting end of year tour that includes matches in Paris, Dublin and London.

TRC R6: All Blacks pummel Wallabies

New Zealand ran in five-tries to utterly dismantle Australia 40-14 at Eden Park on Saturday. The visitors’ defence was porous all afternoon and they end the competition in third with plenty of questions remaining. Having yet to truly find their identity less than a year out from the World Cup in France, Dave Rennie will be feeling the heat.

The result effectively sealed the Kiwis a third-straight southern hemisphere championship title; no mean feat considering the abuse they’ve copped over the past few months. They deserve their title, but questions must be asked of the world champion Springboks who let slip a golden opportunity to win their first full Tri-Nations/ Rugby Championship since 2009.

URC R2: Wins for all four SA franchises

The Sharks kicked-off their URC season on Friday with a thrilling 42-37 win over a determined Zebre Parma side at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, thanks in large part to Boeta Chamberlain’s personal tally of 17-points. In Pretoria, the Bulls managed to hold off Edinburgh 33-31 while there was also a narrow win for the Lions in Swansea over Ospreys (28-27). The Stormers outclassed Connacht 38-15 in Cape Town.

In other results from round two, Leinster beat Benetton 42-10 in Dublin, hosts Glasgow saw off Cardiff 52-24, Ulster earned a 55-39 win in Llanelli over Scarlets and Dragons shocked Munster 23-17 at Rodney Parade.

Gallagher Prem R3: Tight results in Premiership

In the pick of the weekend’s Gallagher Premiership matches, Saracens pipped Gloucester 41-39 at the StoneX while Exeter edged Harlequins 43-42 at Sandy Park. This year’s edition looks set to be as competitive as ever, with Bristol also only just managing to see off London Irish 40-36 at Ashton Gate.

Elsewhere, under fire Wasps beat Bath 39-31 at The Rec, Leicester thoroughly beat Saints 41-21 at Franklin’s Gardens and Worcester thumped Newcastle 39-5 at the Sixways.

Weekend highlights

Check out some of the weekend’s best moments.

Imhoff cops a nasty one 

Juan Imhoff may have scored a hattrick in Argentina’s famous win at Kings Park in 2015, but his return to the stadium didn’t get off to the best start on Saturday when he took a full Frans Steyn clearance kick to the face.

Willie is stepped into another dimension

Willie Le Roux’s teammates won’t let him forget this one.

Roos on the rampage

Evan Roos gave new meaning to the term “Beast Mode” when he did this against Connacht.

Mchunu putting in the hard yards for the Sharks

You won’t see many finer efforts from prop forwards than this from newly-capped Springbok Ntuthuko Mchunu, who puts in a monster shift here.

Prem tries of the week

Check out the Premiership tries of the week from the third round.

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