PREVIEW: All Blacks can clinch Rugby Championship

RUGBY UNION - Matchday 5 of the 2012 The Rugby Championship is upon us and the All Blacks of New Zealand are looking to secure the trophy as they visit Argentina. Elsewhere in South Africa, two unfamiliar fly-halves will square off. Click Read More for key facts on each match.

South Africa - Australia (29 Sep 2012, Pretoria, 17:00 CET)

> The last time the Springboks suffered defeat at the ‘high veldt’ was when they were beaten 41-39 by Australia in Bloemfontein in 2010, when Kurtley Beale kicked a match-winning penalty goal as time expired.

> Beale will start at fly-half for the first time in his Wallaby career. In 22 previous starts, Beale had never started in another position than fullback.

> The last time a Wallaby fly-half produced points in a Tri Nations/Rugby Championship match was in this season’s opener when Berrick Barnes tallied 14 points.

> Barnes is the leading points scorer in the 2012 Rugby Championship (40 points). No Wallabies player has finished as the leading points scorer in this competition since Matt Burke in 2001.

> South Africa’s all-time leading points scorer in this competition, Morné Steyn (232 points) has been jettisoned in favour of 20-year-old Johan Goosen at fly-half.

> Australia have won seven of their last eight Test matches against South Africa, the lone exception being a 44-31 defeat in Pretoria on 28 August 2010.  

> Bryan Habana joins New Zealand’s Israel Dagg on a leading three tries in the 2012 The Rugby Championship. 

> In the previous 16 seasons of the Tri Nations, South Africa have finished third on 10 occasions, second on three occasions and first on three occasions.

Argentina - New Zealand (29 Sep 2012, La Plata, 20:00 CET)

> New Zealand can clinch the 2012 The Rugby Championship with a win against Argentina, or a draw in which the All Blacks register at least four tries. Both results would give them an unassailable lead in the table, regardless of the outcome of the other match.

> In the previous 16 Tri Nations seasons, New Zealand have won the trophy on 10 occasions, have been runners-up on four occasions and have finished third twice.

> The All Blacks have won their first four matches in the 2012 The Rugby Championship. On five previous TN/TRC seasons, a team won all of its matches: New Zealand in 1996, 1997, 2003 and 2010 and South Africa in 1998.

> Dan Carter is set to return for the All Blacks. He is the all-time top scorer in international Test rugby (1,318 points) and the leading points scorer in TN/TRC history (495). He can become the first player in the TN/TRC to reach the barrier of 500 points.

> New Zealand have never lost a Test match against Argentina, winning 14 of 15 and drawing against them in a Test match in Argentina in 1985.

> The All Blacks have scored at least one try in each of their last 41 Tri Nations/The Rugby Championship matches, since a tryless 23-18 defeat against Australia in August 2004.

> Richie McCaw has walked out with a victory in 98 of his 110 Test matches. If he wins the final two matches in the 2012 The Rugby Championship he will become the first player to reach 100 Test victories.

> Argentina have scored 30 points in the first half of 2012 TRC matches, only eight fewer than New Zealand’s 38. In the second half, the All Blacks are outscoring the Pumas by 53-16.