Round one of the Rugby Championship is done and dusted, and it would seem as if the rain was the winner in both games.

Two players picked a draw between the Wallabies and All Blacks and are sitting pretty on 3 log points.

Well done Angostura and Charo, brave call to go for a draw and the rewards for bravery means a yellow cap for Angos.

The match between the Bokke and Pumas only produced 15 margin point winners and 3 correct picks for the Springboks by 7.

Winner RC Round 1: Angostura

It’s fair to say that expectations were much higher that the Boks would beat the Argentines more handsomely than they did.

The Rugby Championship:

Rugby-Talk Predictions:

To this coming weekends matches we go, and we start off with the Rugby Championship match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies in Eden Park, Auckland that kicks off 09:35 SA Time.

It’s been 20 years since the All Blacks have lost at Eden Park and 28 years since the Wallabies last won a test match there.

Both these records could well be in jeopardy on Saturday as the Wallabies have shown an upward curve and should be feeling confident after they managed to draw with the men in black last week. Coach Ewen McKenzie has shown faith in his charges by selecting the same team as the one who did duty in Sydney.

I can’t help thinking that the All Blacks will be a different beast this week as they now have the monkey of winning 18 tests in a row off their back. They start afresh on Saturday unencumbered by that particular expectation.

I will back the All Blacks to win at home by a margin of between 5-10.

In Salta, Buenos Aires at 21:10 Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks have a chance to make amends after a disappointing showing last week at Loftus. The Pumas were most definitely the happier of the two sides and even lamented the fact that they “let this one slip”.

The Boks need to put down the marker this weekend, the previous two years we have dominated and won by a huge margin in South Africa, only to struggle in Argentina with the return match, even being held to a draw in 2012.

This time around we struggled in South Africa and there is a real threat that we could lose for the first time against the Pumas if we don’t have a marked improvement.

Meyer has selected Juan Smith at nr 7 and has brought in Guthro Steenkamp in place of Beast and Eben is in for Bakkies. Let’s hope this will make our forwards more dominant.

Last week the predictions in favor of the Bokke went as high as 70 points and it’s understandable that we believe that we should beat them by between 20-40 at least at home, but away, I think the margins will be much closer by the SuperBru community this weekend.

We should have the better of the Pumas, but once bitten, twice shy, so I will pick the Bokke by a low margin of between 5-10 points this week, and that means they will probably win by 20-25.

Predictions from SARugbymag:

ARGENTINA vs SOUTH AFRICA

Simon Borchardt: South Africa by 8
Jon Cardinelli: South Africa by 10
Mark Salter: South Africa by 12
Gary Lemke: South Africa by 14
Brenton Chelin: South Africa by 6

NEW ZEALAND vs AUSTRALIA

Simon Borchardt: New Zealand by 3
Jon Cardinelli: New Zealand by 8
Mark Salter: New Zealand by 10
Gary Lemke: New Zealand by 11
Brenton Chelin: New Zealand by 5

Planet Rugby

All Blacks by 3
Springboks by 10

Rugby365

All Blacks by 10
Pumas by 5

Tank’s prediction:
NEW ZEALAND to beat Australia by 16

Superbru community:
NEW ZEALAND to beat Australia by 7

Oddschecker:
NEW ZEALAND (3/11) to beat Australia (4/1)

Tank’s prediction:
SOUTH AFRICA to beat Argentina by 9

Superbru community:
SOUTH AFRICA to beat Argentina by 10

Oddschecker:
SOUTH AFRICA (1/5) to beat Argentina (5/1)

Currie Cup:

Winner CC Round 2: Marius

Week two of the Currie Cup didn’t deliver any surprises with home team wins in all 4 matches. The top of the leaderboard has changed somewhat with myself and Snoek changing places between 1st and 2nd, both still on 12 points, but a mere 5 point TDM separating us. Positions 3-5 still belong to the trio of Lions, with Henniek on 11.75 and Lion4ever and Jaco007 on 11.50.

Congratulations to Marius on winning the yellow cap with a 7 point haul which moved him up into 7th spot.

Rugby-Talk predictions:

Round 3 of the Currie Cup kicks off on Friday evening with the Pumas hosting Griquas in Nelspruit in a match both these sides will fancy winning, as they are more used to playing each other than the bigger unions.

It will be tough picking against the Pumas in Nelspruit and I think they will have too much firepower.

Pumas by 10-15.

The Bulls are back at Loftus and take on the EP Kings in a basement special. Both sides have played 2 and lost 2, but it will be the Bulls who will get their first win of 2014 in the Currie Cup on Saturday. Although they have lost two games, it was away games, and similar to the Super Rugby where they failed to get even one away win, they also didn’t lose any games at home. Bulls by between 10-15.

Western Province v Golden Lions, the top two teams so far in the competition meet at Newlands in the 3rd match of the round.

Province have picked the same side that beat the Bulls, while the Lions will be without skipper Warren Whitely, who has, deservedly been called up to the Bok squad.

Will this affect the Lions? Derrick Minnie is the new captain, and he doesn’t want for anything and will lead from the front, similar to Whitely.

Excuse my prejudice and bias, but I will back my boytjies at home by 5-10 points, however, this one can go either way and the Lions stand a very good chance of winning, considering current form.

The last match of the weekend is in Durban where the Sharks host the Cheetahs.

The Sharks are also 2/2 and are flying under the radar while all the focus is on WP and the Lions. I’m sure they prefer it this way as they quietly go about their business.

After this weekend, it will only be the Sharks and whoever wins at Newlands who will be unbeaten, and then the attention will shift squarely back on the Sharks as well.

The Cheetahs don’t have enough big name players to threaten the Sharks in Durban, and although the Sharks have lost Lambie from last week, expect them to continue winning.

Sharks by between 10-15.

Predictions from SARugbymag:

PUMAS vs GRIQUAS

Simon Borchardt: Pumas by 5
Jon Cardinelli: Pumas by 7
Mark Salter: Pumas by 6
Gary Lemke: Pumas by 5
Brenton Chelin: Pumas by 10

BLUE BULLS vs EP KINGS

Simon Borchardt: Blue Bulls by 15
Jon Cardinelli: Blue Bulls by 12
Mark Salter: Blue Bulls by 5
Gary Lemke: Blue Bulls by 12
Brenton Chelin: Blue Bulls by 8

WESTERN PROVINCE vs GOLDEN LIONS

Simon Borchardt: Western Province by 6
Jon Cardinelli: Western Province by 3
Mark Salter: Western Province by 5
Gary Lemke: Golden Lions by 9
Brenton Chelin: Golden Lions by 6

SHARKS vs FREE STATE CHEETAHS

Simon Borchardt: Sharks by 8
Jon Cardinelli: Sharks by 8
Mark Salter: Sharks by 8
Gary Lemke: Sharks by 13
Brenton Chelin: Sharks by 13

Predictions from Planet Rugby:

Pumas by 7.
Bulls by 7
WP by 8
Sharks by 4

Predictions by Rugby365:

Pumas by a few points.
Bulls by 10.
Western Province by 5.
Sharks by 15.

Finally, the predictions from the Rugby Blog:

Pumas by 4
Bulls by 9
WP by 5
Sharks by 6