The Tri Nations is an international rugby union competition that is contested annually by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The competition is organized by SANZAR, a consortium formed by the three countries' rugby governing bodies – the Australian Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Union. These three teams have dominated international rankings in recent years and some consider the Tri Nations to be the toughest competition in international rugby.
At the end of the 2011 season the Tri Nations will become the Four Nations in 2012 should the inclusion of Argentina as the fourth team go ahead. Argentina has been invited to join but there are a number of conditions that they have to fulfill.
The series is played on a home-and-away basis. From the first tournament in 1996 through 2005, the three teams played each other twice. Since then, each team has played the others three times, except in the Rugby World Cup year of 2007 when the series reverted to a double round-robin. Since the inception of the series the games played between Australia and New Zealand also go toward determining the winner of the Bledisloe Cup each year. The Freedom Cup is contested between New Zealand and South Africa, and the Mandela Challenge Plate between Australia and South Africa.
Foundation
The final acceptance of professionalism in rugby union launched the Tri Nations concept. Nearing the completion of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, multi-million pound negotiations between the South African, New Zealand and Australian unions took place to form SANZAR. The new union soon announced a ten-year deal worth £360 million. The competition was established to create an equivalent to the Five Nations in Europe.
Tournaments
The opening tournament of 1996 was dominated by the All Blacks who stormed to victory undefeated, leaving the Springboks and the Wallabies with just one win each—against each other. The opening exchange was between New Zealand and Australia, New Zealand winning by over 40 points and, although they won all four of their games, the later matches were a lot closer in their scorelines. The launch of the Tri Nations was considered a huge success.
A similar story unfolded the following year, 1997. The All Blacks maintained their dominance over the new competition and again went undefeated. Australia and South Africa found themselves in similar position again with just one win each. The 1998 series was something of a turnaround for all nations with South Africa winning the tournament and Australia finishing second. Two-time winner New Zealand finished at the bottom with no wins. In the following tournament in 1999 New Zealand again became Tri Nations champions and defending champions South Africa fell to the bottom.
Australia, the World Champions at the time, won their first Tri Nations championship in 2000. That tournament is also notable for Australia’s opening match against New Zealand at Stadium Australia. Jonah Lomu scored a try in injury time to grab the win for the All Blacks. The game was hailed as one of the greatest ever, and the end competition thought by some to be the best Tri Nations ever at the time.
Australia continued their reign as Tri Nations champions by successfully defending the trophy the following year. Their run ended in 2002 when the All Blacks won the championship again. New Zealand successfully defended it in 2003. South Africa won the 2004 tournament where the three nations finished with two wins each. The Springboks emerged as winners due to their superior table points. The trophy returned to New Zealand in 2005 and the Wallabies failed to win a game. In 2006 New Zealand retained the trophy with 2 games still to be played. In 2007, the Tri Nations was shortened to two games against either team, because it clashed with the Rugby World Cup in France. The Tri Nations championship and the Bledisloe Cup came down to the final match, between New Zealand and Australia at Eden Park. New Zealand ran out easy winners, and lifted both the trophies. There was some controversy as South Africa fielded less than a full strength squad in the away legs in Australia and New Zealand in anticipation of the World Cup. New Zealand defended their title in 2008, in beating Australia in the final match in Brisbane. In 2009, South Africa claimed the season crown in their final match with an away win over New Zealand in Hamilton.
Expansion
The competition was expanded in 2006 and sees each of the three nations play each other three times, although the 2007 series reverted to a double round-robin to reduce fixture congestion in a World Cup year. Historically there have been persistent rumours about the inclusion of Argentina and this has been finally formalised 14 September 2009 when it was announced that Argentina would become a part of the competition in the year 2012 . There have also been rumours about a Pacific Islands team being included too.
The order of fixtures has changed several times in the history of the series. In the past each team played the others twice. After some tweaking of the schedule it was decided to start the series with two fixtures in either South Africa or New Zealand and move the series to the country that did not host the opening rounds. Under this setup Australia's home fixtures were always the middle two in the series.
The recent reworking of the calendar took effect with the 2006 event. This was the result of a new television deal between SANZAR and broadcasters in the United Kingdom and the SANZAR countries. Each team plays the other three times. In 2006 the series opened in New Zealand and the first four rounds alternated between New Zealand and Australia. The fifth round was in Australia. After a one-week break the series returned to New Zealand and then finished with South Africa's three home fixtures. Each team has two home fixtures against one team and only one home fixture against the other.
The competition begins in July. Originally it had started late in July but, with the expansion of the series, the start date has moved to early in the month. It typically ends early in September. The Tri Nations opens after the completion of the Super 14 competition for the year because players from the SANZAR countries are involved in both.
The winner is determined by a points system:
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss
"Bonus points" may also be earned in any given match and count toward deciding the series winner. A total of two bonus points can be possibly scored:
- The Attacking bonus point by scoring four or more tries in the match, regardless of the final result.
- The Defending bonus point by losing by seven points (a converted try) or less.
A victorious team can collect either 4 or 5 points, depending on whether or not it scored 4 tries. A losing team may collect from 0 to 2 points. At the end of the series the team with the most points is declared the winner. If teams end level on points the first tiebreaker is point differential, followed by number of tries during the series. However, the Tri Nations has yet to finish in a tie for the top spot.
| Year |
Winner |
Games
played |
Games
won |
Games
drawn |
Games
lost |
Points
for |
Points
against |
Points
difference |
Bonus
points |
Table
points |
| 1996 |
 New Zealand |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
119 |
60 |
(+) 59 |
1 |
17 |
| 1997 |
New Zealand |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
159 |
109 |
(+) 50 |
2 |
18 |
| 1998 |
 South Africa |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
80 |
54 |
(+) 26 |
1 |
17 |
| 1999 |
New Zealand |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
103 |
61 |
(+) 42 |
0 |
12 |
| 2000 |
 Australia |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
104 |
86 |
(+) 18 |
2 |
14 |
| 2001 |
Australia |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
81 |
75 |
(+) 6 |
1 |
11 |
| 2002 |
New Zealand |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
97 |
65 |
(+) 32 |
3 |
15 |
| 2003 |
New Zealand |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
142 |
65 |
(+) 77 |
2 |
18 |
| 2004 |
South Africa |
4 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
110 |
98 |
(+) 12 |
3 |
11 |
| 2005 |
New Zealand |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
111 |
86 |
(+) 25 |
3 |
15 |
| 2006 |
New Zealand |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
179 |
112 |
(+) 67 |
3 |
23 |
| 2007 |
New Zealand |
4 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
100 |
59 |
(+) 41 |
1 |
13 |
| 2008 |
New Zealand |
6 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
152 |
106 |
(+) 46 |
3 |
19 |
| 2009 |
South Africa |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
158 |
130 |
(+) 28 |
1 |
21 |
| Nation |
Games |
Points |
Bonus
points |
Table
points |
Championships |
| played |
won |
drawn |
lost |
for |
against |
difference |
| New Zealand |
62 |
42 |
0 |
20 |
1657 |
1220 |
+437 |
27 |
195 |
9 |
| South Africa |
62 |
26 |
1 |
35 |
1279 |
1539 |
-260 |
20 |
126 |
3 |
| Australia |
62 |
24 |
1 |
37 |
1277 |
1454 |
-177 |
30 |
128 |
2 |
Updated September 2009
-
- Accurate up to and including week 9 of the 2009 Tri Nations Series.
- Active players (for national side) highlighted in bold.
Top point scorers
| Points |
Player |
Tries |
Conv. |
Pen. |
Drop |
| 363 |
Dan Carter |
5 |
43 |
82 |
2 |
| 328 |
Andrew Mehrtens |
1 |
34 |
82 |
3 |
| 271 |
Matt Burke |
7 |
19 |
65 |
1 |
| 210 |
Percy Montgomery |
4 |
26 |
43 |
3 |
| 198 |
Stirling Mortlock |
9 |
21 |
37 |
– |
| 193 |
Matt Giteau |
7 |
25 |
33 |
3 |
| 153 |
Carlos Spencer |
3 |
21 |
32 |
– |
| 95 |
Morne Steyn |
1 |
6 |
23 |
3 |
| 94 |
Braam van Straaten |
– |
5 |
28 |
– |
| 80 |
Christian Cullen |
16 |
– |
– |
– |
|
Try scorers
| Tries |
Player |
| 16 |
Christian Cullen |
| 14 |
Joe Rokocoko |
| 13 |
Doug Howlett |
| 9 |
Justin Marshall |
| Stirling Mortlock |
| Lote Tuqiri |
| 8 |
Richie McCaw |
| Joe Roff |
| 7 |
Matt Burke |
| Jaque Fourie |
| Matt Giteau |
| Bryan Habana |
| Chris Latham |
| Breyton Paulse |
|
|
