New Zealand vs. South Africa: All Blacks Will Further Gap Between Top 2

Halfway through the 2014 Rugby Championship and heading into Round 4, New Zealand have already begun to stamp their usual authority all over the competition. They will have the chance to further expand their lead against South Africa on Sunday morning.

Both teams have made changes for Sunday's clash—forced or otherwise. Lionsrugby.com passes on head coach Steve Hansen's comments that the All Blacks will replace the injured Liam Messam with Steve Luatua on the flank, and will also bring in Jeremy Thrush for Simon Whitelock, who is still out with a rib problem.

A further change comes at fly-half, where Aaron Cruden has been handed the No. 10 shirt ahead of Hurricanes player Beauden Barrett.

Heyneke Meyer's South African side have made just one change from the team that narrowly missed out 24-23 in the last round to Australia, but it is an important one. Meyer has prompted 20-year-old Handre Pollard to spearhead the Springboks' attack ahead of Morne Steyn.

Regarding the young man, Meyer told reporters: "Handre has the right skill set for how we want to approach this game." This means we should expect to see more ball-in-hand-orientated tactics, with the South Africans keeping possession rather than focusing on kicking the ball forward.

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Despite having experienced heads around him—notably South Africa captain Jean de Villiers, as he celebrates his century of caps—Pollard's inexperience will show against the New Zealand's strong defensive line, and the All Blacks will pressure the South Africans into mistakes, making it impossible for them to play to their original tactics.

There has been a lot of talk over the summer about the All Blacks' demise—discussions about whether their dominance at the top has been waning—but their current form proves it to be nonsense. When they limped to a 12-12 draw with Australia in the opening round of the Rugby Championship in Sydney last month, they answered those critics by thumping them 51-20 the following week.

This prompted high praise from The Telegraph's Steve James: "The world champions and No. 1-ranked side are not just in fine fettle. They are in devastating fettle," he proclaimed. Indeed, the All Blacks have been in great form of late and will look to carry that into Sunday's fixture.

Hansen, speaking to the press, was cautious about being over-enthusiastic, though, despite his excitement: "It's not about talking it up to the newspapers...but an opportunity for a top-two clash is exciting," per allblacks.com.

In recent years, the All Blacks have dominated their South African rivals. In the last 10 games between the two sides, New Zealand have proved more successful, winning eight games. The last game the Springboks won was an 18-5 victory in Port Elizabeth back in August 2009. Even then, however, New Zealand had fielded a weakened side in preparation for the approaching World Cup.

After a narrow loss to Australia last round, South Africa will be looking to come back with gusto against their biggest rivals. Despite this, they haven't beaten New Zealand for three years, and due to a lack of experience in their front line, and the fact that the All Blacks are in imperious form, it is a struggle to see them doing so on Sunday.

New Zealand have a great opportunity to cement their position at the top of the table and almost tie up this year's Rugby Championship. Expect them to do just that.

All statistics courtesy of Statsguru, ESPNscrum.com unless otherwise noted.