New Zealand won the Rugby Championship last weekend. Again. They did so with one-third of their matches still to be played. Again. The last time the All Blacks failed to win the title in a non-World Cup year was 2009 when South Africa were on the high of a successful Lions series.
Since then, and excluding 2011 and 2015 when New Zealand mixed and matched with the World Cup in mind, they have lost one match in six campaigns, to a long-range penalty by Pat Lambie one minute from the end against South Africa in 2014.
Related: Premiership players’ strike an option over plans to lengthen season
Continue reading...