New Zealand take giant step towards Rugby Championship after thrashing Australia

New Zealand put one hand on the Rugby Championship trophy with a convincing 40-14 victory over Australia in their Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland.

The result on Saturday meant South Africa must beat Argentina by more than 40 points later in the day to pip them.

The All Blacks now lead the table by five points with a points difference 39 better than that of the Springboks.

Australia had started the day with a chance of taking the title themselves but they were unable to repeat the performance of their narrow – and controversial – loss to the All Blacks last week.

Ill-discipline repeatedly undermined the Wallabies’ cause at a venue, Eden Park, where they had not won since 1986.

Jed Holloway was sin-binned for a bad tackle on Dalton Papalii with just two minutes on the clock and, although they held out with 14 men initially, they trailed 17-0 by the break.

Job done. Now we wait…#NZLvAUS