While the Rugby Championship final at Twickenham was a hard-fought contest, the question must be asked: did the neutral venue dilute the intensity and passion that a true home-and-away final would have possessed? The unique circumstances created a spectacle that was both grand and strangely subdued.
A final in Buenos Aires would have been a cauldron of noise and hostility, a partisan spectacle that would have undoubtedly lifted the Pumas and created an immense challenge for the Springboks. The emotional stakes would have been sky-high.
Instead, Twickenham offered a more polite, almost festival-like atmosphere. While the pro-Bok crowd was loud, it lacked the raw, visceral edge of a home crowd fighting for a long-awaited title. The passion was present, but it was a different, less intimidating brand of passion.
This is not to say the players didn’t play with intensity, but the environment inevitably has an impact. The psychological warfare of a true away final was absent, and the match, at times, felt more like a showcase event than a do-or-die championship decider.
While the decision to play in London was financially motivated, it came at the cost of the raw, authentic atmosphere that makes southern hemisphere rivalries so special. The final was a great game of rugby, but one can’t help but feel it would have been an even greater spectacle in the heart of Argentina.