Rugby Championship

New Zealand's 35-17 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires at the weekend ensured another southern hemisphere championship for the All Blacks but that will not lead to any slackening of against the Springboks in Pretoria says Perenara.

"We're so focused on the next job and winning games and being the best footy players that we can be that we don't often have time to reflect on what we've achieved," Perenara, who celebrated his 50th cap in Velez Sarsfield win, told New Zealand media.

The All Blacks are averaging 6.8 tries and 46.3 points per game compared to 6.3 and 43.7 in 2016 and will wrap up a fifth Rugby Championship title if victorious against bottom-placed Argentina in Buenos Aires this weekend, irrespective of the result of the other match between South Africa and Australia in Bloemfontein.

A hardened lock very much in the mold of the generations of players who have occupied the Springboks second row, Etzebeth sees Saturday's Rugby Championship test at North Harbour Stadium as just 46 blokes going hammer and tongs on a patch of grass.

"Once you jog onto the field, any records, they disappear out of your head," the 25-year-old said on Friday about the fact South Africa had not won in New Zealand since 2009.

"You don't want to break records, you just want to win the test match. They want to win it, we want to win it. Records don't count for very much."

The Springboks endured an awful 2016 as they suffered their first loss to Ireland at home and were thumped 41-13 and 57-15 by the All Blacks in their two Rugby Championship clashes.

They also lost all three of their end-of-season tests in Europe as they ended the year with just four wins from 12 matches and slumped as low as seventh in the world rankings by this March.

Centre Jesse Kriel and hooker Malcolm Marx crossed for the Springboks, who dominated the breakdown and set piece but were unable to convert late pressure into a score that would have given them a sixth successive win.

Livewire centre Kurtley Beale and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau scored tries for the Wallabies, who showed plenty of attacking endeavour but remain winless in the competition after back-to-back losses to the All Blacks.

Springbok rugby was in crisis at the turn of the year after the side lost eight of their 12 tests in 2016, including historic defeats to Argentina, Italy and Ireland.

The South Africans are now hoping to build on a 3-0 clean-sweep of their June series against a depleted France.

Coach Allister Coetzee narrowly survived the axe, and promised the worst was over and that the side would be more competitive this season.

Williams was suspended for four weeks for a shoulder charge on Lions wing Anthony Watson - it was hoped he would be able to serve the ban before the Rugby Championship.

Yesterday World Rugby confirmed the suspension would run until August 19th, the day of the first Test against Australia in Sydney.

In a statement New Zealand Rugby said Sonny Bill Williams has appealed the World Rugby Judicial Committee's decision not to include the All Blacks match on 11 August in the four-week suspension.

The Wallabies returned to the scene of their Rugby World Cup semi-final win over the Pumas and the defeat to New Zealand in the final knowing victory would see them finish as runners-up following South Africa's 57-15 loss to the All Blacks.

In the first Rugby Championship match to be played outside of the four core territories, centre Kerevi, who scored his first international try in the reverse fixture in Perth last month, was the difference in seeing off a spirited Argentina side.

Crotty scored New Zealand's opening try of the Championship in the first of two victories over Australia, as Steve Hansen's men retained the Bledisloe Cup.

The Crusaders centre missed the second clash through injury, with Anton Lienert-Brown coming in to make his debut.

However, Crotty is now fully recovered from his head knock and will don the number 12 shirt once again in Hamilton on Saturday.

"In selecting this team, we felt there was the need for consistency," Hansen said.