The Rugby Championship

The Rugby Championship
Current season	Season 2019
Association	SANZAAR
sport	Rugby union
First edition	1996
Teams	4th
Game mode	Round tournament
Title holder	South Africa (4th title)
Record winner	New Zealand (16 titles)
Record player	Richie McCaw (58)
Most of the points	Daniel Carter (554)
Most attempts	Bryan Habana (21)
Website	www.super.rugby

The Rugby Championship ( English for The Rugby Championship ) is an annual tournament since 1996 in the sport of rugby union . Participants are the four best national teams of the southern hemisphere: the " Pumas " from Argentina , the " Wallabies " from Australia , the " All Blacks " from New Zealand and the " Springboks " from South Africa . The teams play against each other twice in a home and an away game. Before Argentina participated, the tournament was known as the Tri Nations (German: three nations tournament) from 1996 to 2011 . The tournament is organized by the SANZAAR consortium, made up of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU), South African Rugby Union (SARU) and Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR).

As part of the tournament, Australia and New Zealand will also play for the traditional Bledisloe Cup , South Africa and New Zealand for the Freedom Cup , Australia and South Africa for the Mandela Challenge Plate and Argentina and Australia for the Puma Trophy .

history

Old Tri Nations logo

Australia and New Zealand first played against each other in 1903, while South Africa first visited both countries in 1921. In contrast to Five Nations (now Six Nations ) in the northern hemisphere, however, there was no regular competition in the southern hemisphere. The three countries met sporadically, Australia and New Zealand regularly as part of the Bledisloe Cup .

Last logo of the Tri Nations

The professionalization of sport in the mid-1990s led to the development of the Tri-Nations concept. During the Rugby Union World Cup in 1995 , the associations of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa conducted negotiations and finally founded the SANZAR consortium. The consortium signed advertising contracts worth over half a billion euros for the next ten years.

The first tournament in 1996 was dominated by the New Zealanders who remained undefeated. In 1998 South Africa won the tournament for the first time. In 2000 Australia, the reigning world champion at the time, secured their first tournament victory. 109,874 spectators followed the opening game at the Stadium Australia in Sydney , which meant a new world record for this sport.

In 2012, with the addition of Argentina , the tournament was expanded by a team and renamed The Rugby Championship . This means that all ten national teams, which are divided into the first strength class, can regularly take part in a tournament. South Africa in particular welcomed this project because it would offset the disadvantage of long air travel. In 2016 the Unión Argentina de Rugby joined the organizing consortium, which has been called SANZAAR since then. In 2019, South Africa was the only team to win the Rugby Championship and the World Cup in the same year .

format

Preparation for the New Zealanders' haka before the final 2005 Tri Nations game against Australia at Eden Park , Auckland

The tournament process has changed several times over the years. In the past, each team played twice against the other two teams, with one game at home and one away. After some changes to the schedule, the following solution prevailed: The tournament begins with two games each in South Africa and New Zealand, and in the following year in the country where the opening games did not take place. For this reason, Australia's games were always scheduled in the middle of the tournament.

A format change followed in 2006 after SANZAR negotiated new broadcasting rights with television companies in Great Britain , Australia , New Zealand and South Africa . Each team now plays three times against the other two. Tri Nations 2006 started with a game in New Zealand. The first four rounds were held alternately in New Zealand and Australia. The fifth game took place again in Australia. After a one-week break, the three home games in South Africa followed. Each team had two home games against one opponent and only one against the other. However, the 2007 tournament was played again with only two games each against each other (two-legged matches) due to the World Championships in the near future.

With the expansion of the competition to include Argentina, each team will play twice against the other three teams, with one game at home and one away.

The winner of a game receives four points in the table, in the event of a tie everyone receives two, the loser receives no point. Each team that scores four or more attempts in a match can receive a bonus point . The loser receives a table point if he loses with seven or less game points difference.

Winners list

competition team Tri Nations 1996 New Zealand Tri Nations 1997 New Zealand Tri Nations 1998 South Africa Tri Nations 1999 New Zealand Tri Nations 2000 Australia Tri Nations 2001 Australia Tri Nations 2002 New Zealand Tri Nations 2003 New Zealand

competition team Tri Nations 2004 South Africa Tri Nations 2005 New Zealand Tri Nations 2006 New Zealand Tri Nations 2007 New Zealand Tri Nations 2008 New Zealand Tri Nations 2009 South Africa Tri Nations 2010 New Zealand Tri Nations 2011 Australia

competition team The Rugby Championship 2012 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2013 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2014 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2015 Australia The Rugby Championship 2016 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2017 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2018 New Zealand The Rugby Championship 2019 South Africa

Overall table

Team statistics at the Tri Nations (1996 to 2011)

country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Bonus points	Table points	title
New Zealand	72	50	0	22nd	1936: 1395	+ 541	32	232	10
Australia	72	29	1	42	1531: 1721	- 190	34	152	03
South Africa	72	28	1	43	1480: 1831	- 351	24	138	03

Team statistics at the Rugby Championship (since 2012)

country	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	Game points	Diff.	Bonus points	Table points	title
New Zealand	42	36	2	4th	1423: 751	+ 672	26th	174	06th
South Africa	42	19th	4th	19th	1048: 974	+ 74	19th	103	01
Australia	42	19th	3	20th	952: 1088	- 136	9	91	01
Argentina	42	5	1	36	766: 1376	- 610	11	33	00

Records

(As of December 4, 2018)

Most games

Active players are shown in bold.

1. Richie McCaw (NZL) - 58
2. Bryan Habana (RSA) - 54
   Keven Mealamu (NZL) - 54
3. Kieran Read (NZL) - 52
4. Jean de Villiers (RSA) - 51st
5. Tendai Mtawarira (RSA) - 50
6. Victor Matfield (RSA) - 49
7. George Gregan (AUS) - 48
8. Adam Ashley-Cooper (AUS) - 47
   Nathan Sharpe (AUS) - 47
   Tony Woodcock (NZL) - 47
9. Stephen Moore (AUS) - 46
10. Sam Whitelock (NZL) - 44

Most attempts made

Active players are shown in bold.

1. Bryan Habana (RSA) - Jan.
2. Ben Smith (NZL) - 18
3. Richie McCaw (NZL) - 17th
4. Christian Cullen (NZL) - 16
5. Joe Rokocoko (NZL) - 15

Most points scored

Active players are shown in bold.

1. Daniel Carter (NZL) - 554
2. Morné Steyn (RSA) - 390
3. Andrew Mehrtens (NZL) - 328
4. Matt Burke (AUS) - 271
5. Nicolás Sánchez (ARG) - 270
6. Beauden Barrett (NZL) - 268
7. Matt Giteau (AUS) - 266
8. Bernard Foley (AUS) - 221
9. Percy Montgomery (RSA) - 210
10. Stirling Mortlock (AUS) - 198

The tournaments in detail

See also

• List of major rugby union competitions

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;template=results;trophy=27;type=player accessed on February 13, 2012
2. ↑ http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;orderby=tries;template=results;trophy=27;type=player accessed on February 13, 2012
3. ↑ http://stats.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/stats/index.html?class=1;orderby=points;template=results;trophy=27;type=player accessed on February 13, 2012