The opening round of The Rugby Championship was expected to deliver comfortable victories for South Africa and New Zealand. But while the Springboks made light work of the Wallabies, the Pumas stunned the All Blacks on home soil to run up another poor result for the "capital curse" in Wellington.
The All Blacks have won just one of their past seven Test matches at Sky Stadium.
Read on as we review some of the key takeaways from the weekend's action.
SCOTT ROBERTSON'S TEST HONEYMOON IS OVER
The All Blacks were short-priced favourites to continue their unbeaten run under Scott Robertson, but they were hugely disappointing against a Pumas team that came to the Cake Tin full of attacking intent -- and the belief that they could beat New Zealand on their home patch for the second time in three years.
While the All Blacks were missing some key personnel, in skipper Scott Barrett and fellow lock Patrick Tuipulotu, there was still more than enough class and experience in their matchday 23 to see them to victory, while rookie lock Sam Darry was one of the best players in black.
But they were unable to find any genuine rhythm in a Test match where the Pumas dominated the breakdown and the All Blacks got themselves into trouble with a number of unforgiveable errors.
The biggest of those were two horrid passes thrown by senior players Ardie Savea and Damian McKenzie, the first from the All Blacks skipper that hit the deck, and the second from the first-five which had to be scrambled by Rieko Ioane in-goal. From a lineout steal on halfway, the All Blacks then lost 50 metres' worth of territory and gifted the Pumas a 5m scrum.
The Argentinians then scored a few moments later as 39-year-old hooker Agustin Creevy barged his way over next to the left upright on 70 minutes. When fly-half Santiago Carreras kicked a penalty nearly nine minutes later, the Pumas had their victory -- one they thoroughly deserved.
The All Blacks were also left to lament a missed penalty from McKenzie that would have halted the Pumas' growing second-half momentum, while hooker Asafo Aumua came off the bench and threw two terrible lineout balls, which resulted in key turnovers, one of which came after New Zealand had just won a penalty themselves.
When Beauden Barrett was able to get New Zealand out of jail against England, on Saturday night none of the All Blacks senior players were able to step in and steady the ship. The longer the game went on, the more Argentina grew in confidence.
The expectation in New Zealand was that Robertson was going to come in and oversee an All Blacks revolution, by bringing the same Midas touch from the Crusaders that brought an incredible seven Super Rugby titles.
But in the narrow wins over England, and now this result in Wellington, it's clear that the man known as "Razor" faces the biggest test of his coaching career yet -- and that the same magic he was able to produce in Christchurch may be some ways off with the All Blacks -- if it ever arrives at all.
"You look at yourself firstly and go what could I have done better," Robertson said of the way he had prepared the team.
"Personally, as the head coach, how could I have framed this week a bit better and how could we get more edge?
"I'll reflect on it over the next 24 hours but look, I'm disappointed. I'm hurt. But they [the players] will look to me so I've got to put everything in place so we respond next week."
MATERA PROVES HIS CLASS AS CREEVY SHOWS AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Is there a better all-round back-rower in world rugby than Pablo Matera? Certainly there are more dominant ball-carriers or defenders, opensides who get over the ball at the breakdown; but in terms of the all-round skill set of a player with either 6, 7 or 8, on their back, it's hard to find someone who contributes as much as the Pumas skipper.
Matera was superb in Argentina's upset win in Wellington; it appears he saves his best performances for the All Blacks, too. If you look back at Argentina's win in Sydney in 2020, in Christchurch in 2022 and now on the weekend, you'll find he was the player who provided much of the thrust behind each victory.
The passion he plays with is infectious, too, rubbing off on the players around him. The sight of Matera, all wide-eyed with his tongue out, after an early turnover on Saturday night, showed just how much the game means to him.
He produced another vital steal, which earned a penalty from Angus Gardner, set up the Pumas' first try with a sublime flat pass to a charging Santiago Chocobares, was a constant lineout target, and carried the ball no less than 20 times for 37 metres.
Matera worked so hard that his left boot actually gave way and had to be replaced as the game wound towards its conclusion.
The Pumas were also blessed with the presence of the experienced Agustin Creevy, who came off the bench at age 39 with 20 minutes to play and had three vitally important moments late in the match that helped secure the Pumas the result.
With a breakdown turnover, a try and a lineout steal, Creevy defied his age to secure what was for him a first ever victory over New Zealand.
The veteran duo received huge support from the entire Pumas team, with key contributions coming both up front and out wide, and competently piloted by Carreras from fly-half.
WALLABIES WILL NEED TO GET CREATIVE WITH THEIR SMALL BALL
Australia, as they are right now, are a very small team. And that is perhaps why they kicked away their first two decent pieces of possession in Saturday afternoon's 33-7 thrashing from the Springboks.
The problem was that both kicks, first from Noah Lolesio and then Jake Gordon, were poorly executed and simply turned possession straight back over to the visitors, who gladly overpowered Australia with their vast collection of power ball-runners.
When Australia did hold onto the ball in Brisbane, they were so gassed from their constant defensive work and territorial mismatch that read 68% against them at halftime, that their attack was bunched and the likes of Harry Wilson and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto were easy prey for the energized Springboks defenders.
Australia could manage just 284 run metres for the game against South Africa's 543. That stat just about says it all.
How do Australia then penetrate the South African line next week? Because until the world champions went down to 13 players it simply just didn't look like they were capable of doing so.
If it is to kick, then it must be with far greater accuracy; chasing players need time to get through and contest, South Africa's back three just had it far too easy in Brisbane. And if it is to chip away with ball in hand, then there needs to be more deception -- and be better organized -- as South Africa were never stressed defensively until they were two players down.
Whether that is something that can be achieved in the space of seven days, as Schmidt says, remains to be seen.
"I think there are guys who will improve what they're delivering, and maybe it won't be improved in time for next Saturday," the Wallabies coach said post-match. "But we do have to have a bit of long-term plan, we've got a much younger side than the South Africans. We've got a lot less caps, we've got a lot less experience.
"My belief is that if we chop and change too much, then it is very hard to grow the cohesion because when you go out in a game like that you are very interdependent and you're going to have to make sure that everyone knows their role and has been built ready to deliver their role.
"And I though Carlo Tizzano [19 tackles], did really well today, really well. But it would have been nice to have Fraser McReight as well... there's guys who will get better with opportunity."
PERFECT START FOR THE BOKS AS THEY LOOK TO ENTERTAIN
The Springboks looked every inch the world champions as they bludgeoned the Wallabies in Brisbane and cruised to a 33-7 bonus-point victory. It was largely a dream afternoon for South Africa, though three yellow cards inside the final 13 minutes soured the result just a touch.
The victory was built on the dominance of their scrum and a defensive line that whacked tired Wallabies ball-carriers either into mistakes or forced the Australians to eventually kick the ball away.
But while they have in the past been accused of playing negative rugby, or at least a very one-dimensional style, the same can't be said of the team who played on Saturday, as two of their four tries originated from inside their own half and they made nine clean breaks to the Wallabies' four.
The fingerprints of noted attacking strategist and former All Blacks No. 10 Tony Brown are already evident on the Springboks, and the likes of Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, Willie le Roux and Kurt-Lee Arendse are clearly relishing the greater freedom.
And it is perhaps why coach Rassie Erasmus opted for rookie No. 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the coach recognising the need for his team to evolve yet again and, also, entertain.
"The rules of the game is changing and we're trying to play a bit more attractive rugby as well, especially for the supporters who pay a lot of money to come and watch the game," Springboks star Pieter-Steph du Toit said.
"So we want to play a nice game and a winning brand of rugby as well."