The Rugby Championship

The Rugby Championship ( German: The Rugby Championship) is taking place every year since 1996 tournament in the sport of Rugby Union. Participants are the four best teams in 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 will play in a home and away game against each other twice each. Before attending the tournament in Argentina from 1996 until 2011 under the name Tri Nations ( German: Three Nations Tournament ) is known. Organizer of the tournament is the SANZAR consortium consisting of the associations Australian Rugby Union (ARU ), New Zealand Rugby Union ( NZRU ) and South African Rugby Union ( SARU ).

History

Australia and New Zealand played against each other for the first time in 1903, while South Africa in 1921 the two countries came to visit for the first time. Unlike Five Nations (now the Six Nations ) in the northern hemisphere, however, there was in the southern hemisphere no regular competition. The three countries met each other sporadically, Australia and New Zealand on a regular basis within the framework of Bledisloe Cup.

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

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

2012 the tournament with the inclusion of Argentina has been extended to a team and renamed The Rugby Championship. Thus, all ten teams, which are divided in the first diameter class, regularly participate in a tournament. Above all, South Africa welcomed this project, because this is the disadvantage of the long air travel becomes more balanced.

Format

The course of the tournament has changed over the years several times. In the past, each team playing each opponent twice, the other two teams, each with a home and an away game. After some changes in the Schedule, the following solution prevailed: The tournament begins with two matches in South Africa or New Zealand, in the following year in that country, where the opening game did not take place. For this reason, the games in Australia were always recognized in the middle of the tournament.

In 2006 there was a format change after SANZAR had negotiated with broadcasters in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa new broadcasting rights. Each team plays now three times each against the other two. Tri Nations began in 2006 with a game in New Zealand. The first four rounds were alternately held in New Zealand and Australia. The fifth game again was held in Australia. After a week break, followed by three home games in South Africa. Each team had two home games against an opponent and only one against the other. The 2007 tournament was, however, again with only two games against each ( return match ) discharged because of the World Championships in temporal proximity.

With the expansion of the competition for Argentina each team plays again twice each against the other three teams, each with a home and an away game.

The winner of a game receives four table points, a draw will receive any two, the loser gets no points. A bonus point can get any team that scores four or more tries in a match. The loser gets a point table when he loses with seven or fewer game points difference.

List of winners

Overall table

Records

(As of August 27, 2011 )

Most games

Active players are in bold.

Most scored tests

Active players are in bold.

Most points scored

Active players are in bold.

The tournaments in detail

Tri Nations: 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011

The Rugby Championship: 2012 | 2013

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