Two games remain in the 2025 edition of The Rugby Championship and three teams remain in the hunt to take out the title.
After a dramatic tournament so far the final round promises plenty of intrigue with the second Bledisloe Cup clash in Perth followed by Argentina hosting South Africa at Twickenham (yes the one in London).
The Springboks have the easiest path to victory, needing a bonus point win over the Pumas or a regular win with New Zealand not beating the Aussies by 60 points.
Should Argentina play spoiler and upset the world champions, then the winner of the Wallabies-All Blacks clash in Perth will be crowned the 2025 winners.
Find out who we are backing in our final Rugby Championship preview for the year below.
Despite losing the Bledisloe Cup (again) last weekend, the Wallabies continued to earn plenty of plaudits as they continued their steady improvement that has highlighted the last 12 months under Joe Schmidt.
Now they head into a must win game against New Zealand in Perth and the emotions will be high at Optus Stadium as record appearance maker James Slipper farewells the international arena.
It might also be a third international farewell in under three months for halfback Nic White who has retired twice already but is being pressed back into action after Tate McDermott’s injury last week.
There will be a change at flyhalf for Australia too with Tane Edmed starting in place of James O’Connor who will be eager to atone from a disappointing performance in Auckland.
At this point of the tournament, backing Australia is coming from a place of pure optimism but with the way they have played not just last week but this year, they are good enough to win this game and give them a chance of lifting some meaningful silverware to cap a strong year.
While the winner of the first game will have to sit and wait to see how this game unfolds, it’s tough to see the Springboks getting rolled here.
Especially with this game going to London, where there is a healthy contingent of South African expats who will happily fill the 82,000 seat Twickenham and cheer on their team.
Last week’s game was an odd one with some strange play from South Africa seemingly blips on the radar as they roared to a 67-30 win over Argentina.
Truth be told I’m not expecting this one to be all that close and the trophy heads to South Africa as they celebrate more success on English soil.