NEW Zealand won the Rugby Championship for an eighth time on Saturday after rivals South Africa failed to secure a bonus point and a wide winning margin when beating Argentina 38-21 in Durban.

The Springboks needed a bonus point in the final match of the tournament and victory by at least 39 points to pip the All Blacks for first place.

Earlier on Saturday, New Zealand thrashed Australia 40-14 in Auckland for a bonus-point triumph that took them to 19 points in the six-round Championship.

Rugby World Cup title-holders South Africa finished with 18 points, Australia 10 and Argentina nine in the most exciting southern hemisphere tournament since its launch 10 years ago.

New Zealand have regularly won the Championship with several matches to spare, but this season it went down to the wire.

The All Blacks were the victims of the biggest shock, losing at home to Argentina for the first time.

“We never take a win for granted,” said South Africa captain and flanker Siya Kolisi.

“It’s always an honour to get a win against a team like Argentina. We had a plan and we got near our goal.

“It was going well (when leading 17-0) and we wanted to score again but they scored just before half-time and that set us back a little bit.

“They started well in the second half and then our discipline let us down at times and we had two yellow cards.

“The biggest thing (so far) from this season was that even in the games we lost we created so many chances. Our game plan is working but we just don’t take the…