Questions loom over what’s going wrong with the All Blacks, Warriors mauled by the Panthers & Kiwi on top at Belgian Grand Prix. Video / Sky Sport / Spark Sport
OPINION:
They say that breaking up is never easy, something that is starting to look true for Southern Hemisphere rugby, which went through a messy divorce in 2020.
It wasn't a planned break-up, but one enforced by the arrival of the global pandemic and the subsequent closure of international borders.
But it was a break-up nevertheless and the impact has been severely detrimental to New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina – all of whom have battled for consistency since 2020 and haven't looked anything like their former pre-Covid selves.
Covid was everywhere, but its impact was not uniform. It stressed the Northern Hemisphere, but it broke the South, whose fragile Super Rugby alliance was on the brink of collapse anyway due to its unsustainable cost base.
While it would appear that the integration of the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions was an easier exercise for the South Africans than it was for the Celts and Italians, given the former two played each other in the final, the results posted by the Springboks since 2021 would suggest otherwise.
South Africa have not found it easy to transition their players from URC to the international arena, in much the same way that the All Blacks and Wallabies have struggled since their players were part of Super Rugby Pacific.
However much Super Rugby was financially broken, it did at least still work as a high-performance tool in its final years before collapsing.
And the statistics produced in the last three years best tell that story of Southern Hemisphere decline. They are undeniable in fact and highlight how much the Southern Hemisphere has struggled since the last World Cup.
The craziest thing of all is that here are the All Blacks in the midst of one of their worst runs in history - losing at a rate they have never lost at before - and yet their record since 2020 is easily the best in the Southern Hemisphere.
Ian Foster is currently the most successful of the three Rugby Championship head coaches who have been in their respective posts for the last three years.
Julian Montoya (L) and Michael Cheika celebrate victory over the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
Foster's win ratio of 63 per cent is the worst of any All Blacks coach in the professional age, and yet it is better than the 57 per cent which Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber has produced in the same period and considerably higher than the 38 per cent Dave Rennie has managed with the Wallabies.
Argentina's win rate since 2020 is 34 per cent, but since Michael Cheika took over as head coach earlier this year, it has jumped to 66 per cent as they have won four of their six tests so far in 2022.
The Southern Hemisphere has unquestionably battled to rebuild post-Covid and New Zealand, South Africa and Australia have emerged from the pandemic as fragile versions of their former selves.
They simply aren't as good as they once were. The All Blacks have lost their potent attacking game entirely, a skill which made them the most prolific try-scoring machine in history between 2016 and 2019.
Despite all the revisionist historians out there who have been determined to say the All Blacks' decline began in 2017, the statistics show they scored a record 287 tries in that World Cup cycle at an average of 5.4 per game.
To put that into context, France, now the world number one side, scored 99 tries at an average of 2.2 per game in the last World Cup cycle.
France ended its 12-year wait for a men's Six Nations Championship title in 2022. Photo / Photosport
The Boks, who so cleverly rebuilt a kick-chase mauling game in 2018, which they used to win the World Cup, appear to have paid the price for not evolving or adapting in any way since they were crowned champions.
They struck a winning formula back then and don't seem to know how to change it and the Wallabies seem to only be able to play anywhere near their true potential if they have a man sent off or are facing South Africa.
The respective world rankings of South Africa at three, New Zealand at five and Australia at six, seems a fair reflection of ability, with the only Southern Hemisphere bright spot in this World Cup cycle coming from Argentina's resurgence, which has seen them win four of their last six tests to be currently leading the Rugby Championship.
Mediocrity is a hell of a thing to accept and even harder to sell as something people should be happy with, but it is, at the moment, the defining characteristic of the Rugby Championship.
