After the Oceanian sides dominated the first week, the 2025 Rugby Championship returns for its second round this weekend with the same pair of matchups. Can the Springboks exact their revenge, and will New Zealand build a lead in the points table? Join us for our Rugby Championship R2 betting tips and analysis.
After surviving a late scare in the first match, New Zealand will be eager to post back-to-back wins against Argentina when the two sides meet again on Saturday. But before that, Australia and South Africa will reconvene for the opening clash of Round 2.
The Springboks were left shellshocked by Australia last weekend. Can the Wallabies do it again? We will discuss all this and more in our R2 2025 Rugby Championship predictions, but first, let’s go through the key details of the upcoming round.
| ℹ️ Event: | Rugby Championship 2025, Round 2 |
| 🏉 Venues: | Cape Town Stadium in South Africa and José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| 🗓️ Date: | 23 August 2025 |
A strong second-half resistance from Argentina couldn’t stop New Zealand from claiming a 41-24 win at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes. The 17-point victory was enough to send the All Blacks to the top of the global rankings for the first time since 2021.
The visitors had a comfortable start to the match, with Beauden Barrett, Sevu Reece, Ardie Savea, and Cortez Ratima getting their names on the scoresheet. After going down 10-31 at the interval, Argentina produced a stellar response in the second half.
Most Rugby Championship 2025 predictions had a win for New Zealand, but Los Pumas almost turned the tie on its head with Tomas Albornoz and Joaquin Oviedo bringing them within seven points of the record Rugby Championship winners. Substitute hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho eased the nerves at New Zealand camp with a brace of tries in the final minutes, taking the game out of Argentina’s reach.
In South Africa, however, the 2025 Rugby Championship odds favorites across rugby union betting websites couldn’t beat their underdog opposition. The Boks quickly took control of the game with tries from Kurt-Lee Arendse, Andre Esterhuizen, and captain Siya Kolisi. The away side, however, refused to surrender without a fight.
Australia started to work their way back into the game after trailing 22-0. They didn’t let South Africa add to their tally and started to put points on the board. By the final whistle, the Wallabies had a 16-point lead, and captain Harry Wilson led from the front with two tries.
Here are the standings after the first week of the 2025 Rugby Championship:
| Team | Won | Drew | Lost | Points | Point Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 17 |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| South Africa | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -16 |
| Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -17 |
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Grant Williams has struggled with injury issues lately, but the scrum-half always poses a significant scoring threat whenever he plays. Rassie Erasmus has made wholesale changes to the squad after the unexpected defeat at Ellis Park, which was their first defeat in Johannesburg to Australia since 1963.
Williams opened the scoring in South Africa’s second Test against Italy in July, crossed the line against New Zealand in last year’s Rugby Championship, and came close to touching down at Ellis Park last weekend. Since South Africa is expected to get more attacking in this match, Williams looks well-placed to add another try to his tally. So, we will begin this week’s Rugby Championship 2025 predictions by backing Williams to score again.
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The Springboks will line up with a much-changed side this weekend as coach Erasmus has dropped 10 players from the side that lost to Australia in Johannesburg. This suggests Erasmus is desperate to avenge the first match loss, and they have the firepower to punish the Wallabies.
Australia, however, has already proved that they have made great progress as a unit under Joe Schmidt. After their historic win last weekend, Schmidt’s side will be confident of inflicting another upset on the hosts, but it will not be an easy task. They have lost seven successive matches at DHL Stadium in Cape Town. However, Australia did not make it easy for the Springboks as they did not let them score above 30 points in any of those matches.
For the second pick of our rugby championship R2 betting tips, we predict Australia covering the +13.5 spread against South Africa in Cape Town.
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History heavily favors the All Blacks, who have won 36 of 40 Tests against Argentina. They’ve run up 40 or more points in five of the last six meetings, and in the last two, the scoreboard was already past 30 by halftime.
Los Pumas are still chasing a first-ever win against New Zealand on home soil, with 14 losses and just one draw in 15 attempts since 1985. Their recent run has been equally rough, with five losses in six, though a morale-boosting 33-25 win against France in Buenos Aires does give them some confidence.
The All Blacks are in fine form with five wins on the bounce and 10 from their last 11 Tests. If there’s a weakness, it’s their patchy second-half scoring, but this tie has been so one-sided historically, we believe New Zealand can beat Argentina in both halves if they produce their best effort.
To wrap up our Rugby Championship Round 2 predictions 2025, therefore, we predict New Zealand to beat Argentina comprehensively.
For our final 2025 Rugby Championship 2nd round betting tips, we will keep our faith in Grant Williams and New Zealand as the best bets this weekend.
