Round 2 of The Rugby Championship and Round 3 of the Currie Cup is done and dusted!

No real surprises with the results, except the huge margin the All Blacks smashed the Wallabies by, and the fact that the Bokke hardly scraped their way to a 2 point win.

The Springboks have struggled in Argentina the past three years, but most pundits thought the Bokke would at least still be closer to a 10 point margin better than the Pumas, even on a bad day.

The Rugby Championship takes a week off and will resume on 6 September for Round 3.

The Rugby Championship Round 2:

Winner RC Round 2: Winston Champ

This weekend saw the All blacks extracting revenge for the draw they suffered at the hands of the Australians in Round 1, by hammering them 51-20.

The Argentina National side almost got their first win against South Africa in Salta, with a last gasp Morné Steyn penalty saving some serious Bok blushes and enabling the Boks to escape with a narrow 33-31 win.

Plenty has been said and written about the Bok scrum woes, but hopefully things improve when we face the Wallabies in 2 weeks time.

Angostura still remains in the top spot, second is Charo, but the yellow cap for round two goes to Winston Champ who claimed 3,5 points and climbed 15 places to No 3 in the pool. All three these players are on 5 points, with Angostura claiming 1st due to a superior TDM of 2 points separating him from Charo. Sounds like the Bokke….

Currie Cup Round 3:

Winner CC Round 3: The Rock

For the second week in a row we saw all 4 winners come from from the home teams. The match that tricked most players up was the one at Newlands, where a large percentage of players picked the Lions to beat Western Province. The Cheetahs came within a whisker of beating the Sharks in Durban, and that could have cost many a GSP.

The yellow Cap for Round 3 goes to The Rock who climbed 26 places up to 20th position with a haul of 7,5 points. Well done! Excellent picking.

The top of the Rugby-Talk leaderboard is unchanged from Round 2 with Daniel (Nortierd) and Snoek still barely clinging onto 1st and 2nd respectively, both on 17,50 points with a TDM of a mere 6 points separating 1st from 2nd.

After 12 matches, we are the only 2 yet to predict a wrong outcome, but margin points are making things tough for us, we have only managed 1 correct margin in both round 2 and 3, therefor we are seriously under siege from the chasing pack.

Atta has climbed 3 places into third spot on 16,25 points, with last week’s yellow cap winner Marius continuing his upward surge, sitting at 4th spot on 16 points. 5th place goes to Bono who, on 15,75 points has climbed 7 spots this week.

Round 4 promises to be the toughest round so far to predict the outcomes, with the Pumas hosting the Sharks and Griquas playing at home against the Cheetahs proving to be the real difficult games to pick.

It’s by no means safe to assume that Western Province will win at Loftus, but it will be a very brave and optimistic Bull supporter who will ignore current form and back the Bulls for a win, likewise the match in PE should be a no brainer with the Lions sure to take the spoils away from home.

The Pumas in Nelspruit is nobody’s friend and the Sharks, although unbeaten, are not setting the world alight or even impressing their supporters with the way they are playing.

The Cheetahs haven’t been too convincing thus far either, and although Griquas are yet to get a win in 2014, they will like nothing better than to usurp Big Brother in Kimberly.

Currie Cup Predictions for Round 4:

Predictions from Rugby365

Steval Pumas vs Cell C Sharks

• Prediction: A lot has been made about the fact that the Pumas are undefeated at Mbombela, but with all that being said – it is more impressive that the Sharks are undefeated – home and away. What is more troubling for the Pumas is that the Sharks have managed to remain undefeated without hitting their full stride. The men from Durban have not been impressive as yet and one can only feel that it is a matter of time before they start to look polished with that deadly backline. It could very well be this weekend with the Sharks winning by 10 points or more.

GWK Griquas vs Toyota Free State Cheetahs

• Prediction: Not an easy one to call with both of these teams really struggling. The Cheetahs are a ‘new’ team with a new coaching staff – but they do seem to be finding their feet better than the Griquas who look slightly out of sorts after getting a reprieve in the Currie Cup when it was extended to eight teams. You have to feel that the Griquas are due for a fantastic performance, but it can also be said that the Cheetahs will want to carry on improving after beating the Griquas in Round Two. Cheetahs by five.

Vodacom Blue Bulls vs DHL Western Province

• Prediction: It is true that the Bulls are starting to look better after that win against the Kings – it may not have been impressive, but it was a start. Ludeke has started trusting some of his more exciting options in William Small-Smith and Jesse Kriel while balancing them with the experience in the pack. However, their improvements look minuscule in comparison to the strides that Province have made – and continue to make. There seems to be no slowing Province and you can expect them to come out 10 point winners.

EP Kings vs Xerox Golden Lions

• Prediction: Life has not been easy for the Kings after their 12 years in the top-tier rugby wilderness, they remain without a win. On the other hand the Lions have impressed by bringing through their Super Rugby form which saw them hit a new record of seven wins in a season. It has to be felt that this time around, against the Lions, at home – it will be just as difficult for the Kings, especially with the concerns over players an the lack of a captain. Lions by 15+.

Predictions by Planet Rugby

• Sharks by 3
• Cheetahs by 7
• Western Province by 12
• Lions by 10

Predictions by The Rugby Blog

• Sharks by 9
• Griquas by 3
• Western Province by 10
• Lions by 15

Predictions by SA Rugbymag

Steval Pumas vs Cell C Sharks

• Mark Salter: Pumas by 3
• Jon Cardinelli: Sharks by 6
• Simon Borchardt: Sharks by 5
• Brenton Chelin: Sharks by 5
• Gary Lemke: Sharks by 6

GWK Griquas vs Toyota Free State Cheetahs

• Mark Salter: Cheetahs by 6
• Jon Cardinelli: Griquas by 5
• Simon Borchardt: Griquas by 7
• Brenton Chelin: Griquas by 3
• Gary Lemke: Griquas by 4

Vodacom Blue Bulls vs DHL Western Province

• Mark Salter: WP by 6
• Jon Cardinelli: WP by 6
• Simon Borchardt: WP by 10
• Brenton Chelin: WP by 12
• Gary Lemke: WP by 9

EP Kings vs Xerox Golden Lions

• Mark Salter: Lions by 10
• Jon Cardinelli: Lions by 12
• Simon Borchardt: Lions by 15
• Brenton Chelin: Lions by 15
• Gary Lemke: Lions by 21

Predictions from Rugby-Talk

Steval Pumas vs Cell C Sharks:

The Pumas will be looking forward to having another crack at the Sharks and would dearly love the add scalp of the strongest SA union to their collection. Although the Sharks haven’t been at their best or playing “pretty” rugby, they have been effective and know how to win.

• Nortierd: Sharks by between 10-15
• Grootblousmile: Sharks by 7 – 15

GWK Griquas vs Toyota Free State Cheetahs:

The Cheetahs will know what is waiting for them in Kimberley, and it’s not going to be pleasant. The Griquas will feel that they could and should have beaten the Sharks at home in round one, and with the threat of relegation getting more likely with every loss they accrue, they will be desperate to start capitalizing on their home field advantage. This is a tough one to call, and if one goes Cheetahs, the chances are you are going for 4 away wins for the weekend, and bear in mind, the last two rounds all 8 games were won by the home sides.

• Nortierd: Cheetahs should just do enough to scrape through again, by 3-8 points.
• Grootblousmile: FS Cheetahs by 2 to 10

Vodacom Blue Bulls vs DHL Western Province:

The Bulls are at Fortress Loftus, but up against one of the front runners who haven’t displayed any real weaknesses, barring their tendency to have players yellow carded. Province should continue their winning way against a Bull side lacking not just in confidence, but also in skill.

• Nortierd: WP by 10-15
• Grootblousmile: WP by 7 – 18

EP Kings vs Xerox Golden Lions:

The Lions will, after last weekend’s hiccup, be back on their winning way, and, weather permitting, collect a 4 try bonus point.

• Nortierd: Golden Lions by 20-25
• Grootblousmile: Golden Lions by 22 – 32