The second round of The Rugby Championship has been run and won with South Africa reaffirming themselves as the best in the world after their second string side made easy work of the Wallabies in Perth and moved clear top of the table.
Meanwhile the All Blacks were back to their sublime best as they extended their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 50 Tests.
Read on as we review some of the key takeaways from the weekend's action.
ALL BLACKS COMEBACK KINGS, YET AGAIN
Did anyone truly believe the All Blacks' unbeaten run at Eden Park was going to be under threat on Saturday night? Probably not. But the demolition job they put on the Pumas, just a week after they were ambushed in Wellington, has proven once again New Zealand are the comeback kings.
As the rugby world knows all too well, there's no more threatening beast than a wounded All Blacks side off the back of a defeat, and just minutes into their clash on Saturday night they showed there'd be no mistakes this time around.
A week earlier, the All Blacks forward pack failed to show any physicality, while questions were asked of Damian McKenzie and his continued presence at fly-half. All those were laid to bed by the end of the first half when the All Blacks threatened to produce a cricket score in wet and wild conditions.
Pinned back by the Pumas deep kickoffs a week earlier, the All Blacks implemented their own deep kicking game that had Argentina pinned within their own 22 from the opening minutes. Catching on to Argentina's rush defence early, Beauden Barrett and McKenzie made the most of the open space in the wet and on multiple occasions sent long, deep kicks that forced Juan Cruz Mallia, Matias Moroni, and Mateo Carreras to clean up a messy, slippery ball just metres from their own line.
McKenzie would be the first beneficiary of their kicking game after Jordie Barrett sent a superb chip kick over the Pumas defence for the fly-half to chase and dot down for the opening try just six minutes into the match. A flood of tries would soon follow with Ardie Savea, Caleb Clarke, Will Jordan, and the older Barrett notching their name on the ledger.
While Barrett and McKenzie handled the game management with aplomb, it was the forwards who outmuscled and bent the Pumas line that gave their playmakers the opportunity to push the ball wide and find the spaces in the middle and on the edges.
Ardie Savea was once again the standout for his side after a quiet opener in Wellington. Leading from the front throughout, Savea finished the night with a game high five defenders beaten, two clean breaks, and a try.
Meanwhile, Ethan Blackadder and Sam Darry certainly did their selections in South Africa no harm after they both put in clinical performances, especially Blackadder who proved himself a beast at the maul while making 18 tackles and even pinching a lineout.
Scott Robertson would have been breathing a sigh of relief after his side put on an efficient and physical performance he'd been after since taking over the role earlier this year. But after failing to add a point for the final 38 minutes of the match, he'll be asking for much more when they cross the Indian Ocean to face the world champions in two weeks time.
A shout out must also go out to Italian referee Andrea Piardi who took charge of his first Rugby Championship match and did an admirable job with whistle in hand. In deplorable conditions he allowed a free-flowing game, was in constant communication with the players and at one stage even warned perennial chatterer TJ Perenara "I ref, not you" during play.
NO LINE BREAKERS, NO ATTACK
For a second straight week, the Wallabies were put to the sword by the Springboks, this time by their 'second string' line-up, and for a second week we were shown just how far off the pace they remain to be.
Keeping pace with the 'B' side throughout the first half, thanks to two bombed tries within two minutes from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Makazole Mapimpi, the Wallabies had a chance to take a slim lead into the break but for Noah Lolesio unable to convert the penalty on the siren.
But with the second half came the Boks 'A' team, namely their bomb squad. And detonate they did. While the Wallabies put some pressure on the Springboks in the opening 40 minutes, they were simply blown off the park when the likes of Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth, and Kwagga Smith entered the fray.
In no way were the Wallabies convincing with ball in hand in the first half. The many failed cross-field kicks to Andrew Kellaway on the wing was hardly conducive to the conditions, Len Ikitau's failed grubber that saw his side turned back 60 metres and Nic White's wayward box kicks will all come under plenty of scrutiny, but as the pressure built in the second, they looked even more lost with ball in hand.
A nice cross-field kick from Tom Wright to Max Jorgensen in the 56th minute was the highlight of the second half for the Wallabies after Jorgensen was able to race down the right wing and swerve around one defender, but he left his own chip kick too late.
Their best scoring opportunity came midway through the second half when they won a lineout 10 metres from the Boks line; it would all unravel though when Wright would first fail to send the final pass to a wide-open Jorgensen before Lukhan Salakaia-Loto would drop the ball cold seven metres from the posts in what was the Wallabies best attacking shape of the match.
As many people will tell you, only a pack moving forward and breaking the line will give you a chance to unleash your backline and that's exactly what the Wallabies failed to do. Harry Wilson was the only forward to earn double-figure running metres with 17 through nine carries. The next best was Tom Hooper -- who came from the bench -- with six from one carry. It's hardly happy reading for supporters.
Rob Valetini failed to bend the line like he's done so well previously, while Angus Blyth and Carlo Tizzano struggled to make a dent in the green wall. It often saw the Wallabies reeling backwards, losing metres faster than they could gain them. With it came frustration, more dropped balls, and brain-dead penalties.
In even more dour reading, after 160 minutes of rugby the Wallabies scored just one try, a consolation in the 75th minute in Brisbane, while they conceded a nine-tries-to-one, 63-19 point aggregate. It certainly brings in to light the stark chasm between the two sides.
UNCONTESTED SCRUMS REAR THEIR UGLY HEADS
It doesn't happen often, but when it does it certainly has tongues wagging.
With Allan Alaalatoa forced from the field with a head knock and James Slipper joining him only minutes later with his own, the final 30 minutes of the Wallabies Test in Perth was reduced to uncontested scrums.
While it may have benefited the Wallabies, as the Boks famed front-row was essentially shut down for the rest of the game, it certainly didn't benefit fans of the game.
If you happened to switch the game on part-way through the second you may have asked yourself whether you'd accidentally come across a rugby league match, given how ugly the scrum looked.
It even had Springboks great Bryan Habana in commentary joking that the seven players from the backlines should line-up in the scrum instead to give the forwards an opportunity to run the ball wide.
For 30 minutes, one of the most pinnacle parts of the game was taken away. A contest that is so unique to the sport.
Perhaps the ugliest part of all is how long it takes referees to determine the match much descend into the uncontested scrum territory. The framework from World Rugby is hard to understand for the most adept rugby fan, let alone the casual observer, and even had the referees on the weekend tripped up with the Wallabies forced to play a man down for several minutes until the touch judges discovered their error.
While some bemoan the scrum and its many resets, surely Saturday's absence of eight big men packing down and colliding together will have only changed people's minds.