TodayThe Castle Rugby Championship New Zealand vs Argentina 08:30 SS1Australia vs S. Africa 11:45 SS1SYDNEY - When your national team is ranked second in the world and are going into a test looking to extend a winning streak over a strong rival to five games, talk in most countries would not be of crisis. Australia is not most countries.On the back of successive losses to New Zealand, defeat to South Africa in the Rugby Championship in Perth on Saturday is almost certain to see already febrile criticism of the Wallabies, and coach Robbie Deans in particular, boil over.It would also officially mark Australia’s decline as they would slip below the Springboks into third place in the world rankings on Monday.Popular consensus is that All Blacks are far and away the best team in the world rugby and the International Rugby Board’s rankings reflect that, with the world champions having retained the top spot for the best part of three years.The Wallabies would already have lost their position as ‘best of the rest’ two weeks ago after the 22-0 defeat to New Zealand in Auckland had the Springboks not been held to a 16-16 draw by Argentina.While no one would pretend the IRB rankings mean anything like as much as test victories, the loss of second place would present critics of ‘Dingo’ Deans with another stick to beat him.The 53-year-old New Zealander, in his fifth season in charge of the Wallabies, is already battling the perception that Australia have lost their way under his stewardship.It was as much the manner of the successive defeats to the All Blacks that upset rugby fans in Australia with the Wallabies mustering just one try over the two tests, and that from lock Nathan Sharpe rather than the much-vaunted backline.
