Almost a year since they played Argentina in the Rugby World Cup 2015 semi-final at Twickenham, Australia return to the home of English rugby for a rematch with Los Pumas as this year’s Rugby Championship draws to a close.

Including Tri-Nations fixtures, the first Rugby Championship match to be played at Twickenham Stadium will also be Australia’s 100th in the competition. South Africa and New Zealand, who do battle in Durban, will also reach the century milestone when they run out at Kings Park.

New Zealand have more significant landmarks on their mind, though.

The All Blacks have won their last 16 test matches and other than the aim of recording a clean sweep in this year’s Rugby Championship they will also be aiming to equal the record for consecutive test wins by a Tier One nation.

The All Blacks have twice previously won 17 games on the bounce while the Springboks have also recorded a 17 game win streak, from 1997 to 1998.

South Africa will hope to spoil the party though and it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve ruined an All Black record run. The Springboks recorded a 17-6 win against New Zealand in Pretoria in 1970 after the All Blacks had become the first side ever to win 17 games in a row.

ARGENTINA v AUSTRALIA, TWICKENHAM STADIUM, LONDON

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has made two changes to his starting side as the Wallabies look to repeat of their 29-15 victory over Argentina at RWC 2015.

Melbourne Rebels back-rower Lopeti Timani comes in at number eight with club team-mate Sean McMahon out with an ankle injury. It will be Timani's first start in the gold jersey after making his debut off the bench in Australia's 36-20 win over Argentina in Perth last month.

In the other change to the starting XV, Brumbies lock Rory Arnold returns in place of Rob Simmons to partner Adam Coleman in the second row. The monster locks will form the tallest second row combination in Wallabies history, with Coleman 2.05m and Arnold even taller at 2.08m.

Number eight Leroy Houston heads down the M4 from Bath after receiving a late call-up to join the bench, and will win his first cap if he comes on.

Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade has made four changes, split equally between backs and forwrads, to the side that lost 36-17 against New Zealand in Buenos Aires.

In the pack, veteran back-rower Leornardo Senatore steps in for injured number eight, Facundo Isa, while Lucas Noguera takes over from Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro at loose-head prop.

Meanwhile, in the back line, Matías Moroni comes in for Santiago Cordero on the right wing and Manuel Montero replaces Ramiro Moyano on the opposite flank. Montero and fly-half Nicolás Sánchez will both face late fitness tests.

In brief

  • Captain Stephen Moore will equal George Smith as the fourth most-capped Wallaby in history, when he runs out for his 111th test.
  • Australia have won 12 of their last 13 games with Argentina, including the last three meetings all by a margin of at least two converted tries.
  • The Pumas have scored 108 points already this year, making it their highest scoring Rugby Championship campaign ever, a win in this match would make it the first time they have ever won two games in an edition of the tournament.
  • Five players have made 50+ carries in this tournament, four of which play for these two teams (Facundo Isa 85, Pablo Matera 57, Agustin Creevy 50, Israel Folau 50).
  • Australia (80 per cent) are the only team to have a lineout success rate below 90% in this tournament, on average they have lost 2.6 throws per gam
  • Argentina have the best goal kicking rate in the competition this year (89 per cent) with Nicolas Sanchez slotting 20 of his 23 efforts and Juan Martin Hernandez and Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias both slotting the two efforts each they have had.
  • Michael Hooper (61) has made 10 more tackles than any other player in the competition after five weeks, conversely the three players to miss the most tackles are all Australian too (Foley 14, Haylett-Petty 13, Mumm 11)

Rankings predictor

A ‘home’ win for Argentina, who elected to play this game on foreign soil, would result in Los Pumas overtaking Ireland and moving into sixth place in the rankings, on 82.31 points. Fourth place is within their reach, too, but they would have to win by more than 15 points.

Australia can recapture third place off South Africa if they win and the Springboks are beaten by the All Blacks. A heavy loss would cost Argentina, ranked seventh, two places, with France and Scotland the beneficiaries.

SOUTH AFRICA V NEW ZEALAND, KINGS PARK, DURBAN

Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee has made two injury-enforced changes to his starting XV.

Faf de Klerk comes in at scrum-half in place of Rudy Paige while Damian de Allende replaces Jesse Kriel in midfield.

In a positional change in midfield, Juan de Jongh moves from inside to outside centre, with De Allende now wearing the number 12 jersey. The two wings, Bryan Habana and Francois Hougaard, will swap jerseys for this Test.

The rest of the matchday squad was kept unchanged from the line-up that defeated the Wallabies in Pretoria last Saturday.

Coetzee’s opposite number, Steve Hansen, has freshened things up again as New Zealand look to sign off this year Rugby Championship campaign with a perfect record.

The matchday 23 features several changes to the side which beat Argentina in Buenos Aires last weekend.

In the forwards, lock Sam Whitelock is promoted from the bench to wear the number five jersey, replacing Patrick Tuipulotu; loose forward Jerome Kaino is back in at blindside, with Liam Squire moving to the bench; while Matt Todd takes over at openside from Ardie Savea, who is named amongst the replacements. Charlie Faumuina replaces Ofa Tu'ungafasi as one of the replacement props.

In the backs, wing Waisake Naholo returns to the matchday 23 replacing Julian Savea in the 11 jersey.  George Moala comes in for Damian McKenzie on the bench.

In brief

  • The All Blacks have won eight of their last nine matches against South Africa
  • Five of the six previous meetings between these sides at Kings Park have been decided by fewer than 10 points (three wins each).
  • Morne Steyn scored 31 points (1T, 1C, 8P) for the Springboks the last time these two teams clashed at this venue (2009), the most ever by a player against New Zealand.
  • The All Blacks have already scored 205 points and 29 tries in this tournament, both record tallies in a single Rugby Championship/Tri Nations campaign.
  • Three of the four players to make the most clean breaks in this year’s edition of the competition are All Blacks (Julian Savea 11, Ben Smith 10, Israel Dagg 8), the other being Argentina’s Facundo Isa (8).
  • South Africa have enjoyed less possession than any other side this year, a total of just 1hr 10m 24s over their five games so far (14m 5s per game).
  • No player has won more turnovers than Francois Louw in the 2016 Rugby Championship (seven, same as Michael Hooper and Agustin Creevy), more than twice as many as any New Zealand player (Sam Cane, Ardie Savea & Brodie Retallick have all won three each)

Rankings predictor

New Zealand will move omore than seven points clear of England at the top of the rankings if they win by more than 15 points in Durban as such a margin of victory would come with a 1.27-point gain. A narrow victory would be worth 0.18 of a rating point, putting them on 96.48 points compared to England’s 89.49.

A losing South Africa will hang onto third spot as long as Australia don’t beat Argentina. Should the Springboks upset the odds and become the first team to beat the All Blacks for over a year, they will be rewarded with a gain of 1.82 points - or 2.73 points if the margin is greater than 15. In such an event, the gap between themselves and England in second would be down to just over a point and a half.

EUROPEAN ROUND UP

The Rugby Championship fixture between Argentina and Australia at Twickenham isn’t the only international taking place on European soil this weekend as three matches are scheduled to take place in Rugby Europe Conference 2 North and South, competitions which form part of the continent’s qualification process for RWC 2019.

Hungary got their 2 North campaign off to a flying start with a 55-3 win over Estonia last weekend and a second big win, against Denmark, on Saturday would see them jump five places to 77th on the back of a gain of 0.58 of a point. Hungary, currently ranked 82nd, will move up another place if an emphatic win is combined with a loss for Bosnia & Herzegovina away to Austria.

A winning Denmark, ranked 88th, stand to move above Hungary irrespective of the margin between the two nations, and the same applies to Finland (97th) if they overturn Norway (90th) in the other 2 North fixture. Norway’s position would remain unchanged in victory as the 0.59 of a point on offer would not be enough for them to overhaul Mauritius, their nearest rival.

The Conference 2 South season kicks off in Vienna with Austria (87th) taking on Bosnia & Herzegovina (73rd). Again, with such small points margins between the teams in this section of the rankings, a win for Austria would result in a dramatic upturn in their fortunes with a rise of three places possible. A big win for Bosnia & Herzegovina would see them jump five places to 68th.

The World Rugby Rankings are updated at 12 noon every Monday.