Wycliff Palu and the Wallabies are unbeaten in seven Tests © Getty Images

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Heyneke Meyer believes the 2014 Rugby Championship will be "the toughest one yet", primarily because of the form shown by Australia's Super Rugby franchises on the back of the Wallabies' improvement since the 2013 tournament.

Australia were never in the hunt last season, suffering Bledisloe defeats to New Zealand home and away before their 38-12 humiliation at the hands of Meyer's Springboks in Brisbane. The Wallabies recorded only victories over Argentina, but they impressed in winning 54-17 in Rosario and they have since won seven consecutive Tests after defeat by England at Twickenham.

The Wallabies, most recently, swept their three-Test series against France, showing devastating form in Brisbane and Sydney either side of the arm-wrestle in Melbourne, and Australian rugby has since been buoyed further by New South Wales Waratahs' maiden Super Rugby title and by the Brumbies' form in the finals series. Western Force also missed a maiden finals appearance to cap their best season only in the final round of the minor premiership.

"I'm honest when I say this will be the toughest Rugby Championship of all the previous ones we've been involved in," Meyer told Supersport in South Africa. "I believe Australia had a lot of injuries last year and suddenly now they've hit form. They've had two teams in the Super Rugby playoffs and it was a tight game between them.

"They've also changed their game plan.

"In the first year under Ewen [McKenzie], they tried to run everything and they gave away a lot of tries through turnovers. Since then they've reverted to a 9 and 10 that plays tactically, and it's been good for them.

"They've won Super Rugby as well now and they have a lot of confidence, and we expect a lot of those players to start in the Rugby Championship. They are going to be very difficult opponents this year."

Heyneke Meyer fears his Springboks have lost a little momentum © Getty Images

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Meyer and his Springboks are in a pre-tournament camp, with his players needing to pass fitness tests before the selectors name their starting line-up to play the first Test against Argentina in Pretoria.

"We are the team probably with the most injuries," Meyer said. "We're under pressure now. New Zealand are always tough to play and Argentina have a new coach and have caught up; they've been in camp for a month now. This will be the most difficult one of the lot. We had great continuity in the incoming tours and we've probably lost a bit of that, so we have to find our feet soon.

"While there is no correlation between winning this one and going to the World Cup, it will be great to win this one. We're a proud nation and a proud team and we really want to win this one. I do believe though that if there are four strong teams, it is almost easier to win it.

"You need a strong Australia, Argentina and South Africa as well. I think it will come down to bonus points this year, and that is why we need to be firing from the first game."