Tri Nations Series champions

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The Tri Nations is contested annually between the Wallabies (Australia), the All Blacks (New Zealand) and the Springboks (South Africa).

Tri Nations Series champions is the title given to the rugby union nation (either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa) that finishes at the top of the annual Tri Nations Series competition table following the completion of a tournament. The Bledisloe Cup, an Australian-New Zealand trophy is also awarded within the series.

Each nation plays each other thrice on a home and away basis, though the amount of games against each side was expanded from two to three in 2006.^[1] A nation receives four points for a win, two for a draw and none for a loss. A nation can obtain a bonus point by either scoring four tries in a match or by losing by seven points or less to the opposition. If nations finish level on points (points for winning, drawing and bonus match points), the first tiebreaker is point differential (the actual in game scoreline, a cumulative scoreline difference). The scoreline difference is worked out by subtracting the amount of points a nation has had scored against them from the total points they have scored in the series. Should teams still be level, this is followed by number of tries scored by a nation during the series.

The Tri Nations was created between the SANZAR partners (along with the provincial Super 12 competition, now, Super 14). The tournament involves three southern hemisphere nations; Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The series was created to form a similar competition to the Six Nations Championship (then, the Five Nations).^[2] The first tournament was held in 1996, which New Zealand won. It has subsequently been held annually. The competition has largely been dominated by New Zealand, who have won eight championships whereas both Australia and South Africa have won the series twice. New Zealand has won successive championships on three occasions (1996/1997, 2002/2003 and 2005/2006).

[edit] Results

[edit] Tournaments (1996-2007)

Year	Duration	Table position	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
				played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1996	July 6 – August 10	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	119	60	+59	1	17
		2	South Africa	4	1	0	3	70	84	−14	2	6
		3	Australia	4	1	0	3	71	116	−45	2	6
1997	July 19 – August 27	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	159	109	+50	2	17
		2	South Africa	4	1	0	3	148	144	+4	3	7
		3	Australia	4	1	0	3	96	150	−54	2	6
1998	July 11 – August 22	1	South Africa	4	4	0	0	80	54	+26	1	17
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	79	82	−3	2	10
		3	New Zealand	4	0	0	4	65	88	−23	2	2
1999	July 10 – August 28	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	103	61	+42	0	12
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	84	57	+27	2	10
		3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	34	103	−69	0	4
2000	July 15 – August 26	1	Australia	4	3	0	1	104	86	+18	2	14
		2	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	127	117	+10	2	10
		3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	82	110	−28	2	6
2001	July 21 – September 1	1	Australia	4	2	1	1	81	75	+6	1	11
		2	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	79	70	+9	1	9
		3	South Africa	4	1	1	2	52	67	−15	0	6
2002	July 13 – August 17	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	97	65	+32	3	15
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	91	86	+5	3	11
		3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	103	140	−37	3	7
2003	July 12 – August 16	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	142	65	+77	2	18
		2	Australia	4	1	0	3	62	122	−17	2	6
		3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	62	122	−60	0	4
2004	July 17 – August 21	1	South Africa	4	2	0	2	110	98	+12	3	11
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	79	83	−4	2	10
		3	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	83	91	−8	1	9
2005	July 30 – September 3	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	111	86	+25	3	15
		2	South Africa	4	3	0	1	93	82	−11	1	13
		3	Australia	4	0	0	4	72	108	−36	3	3
2006	July 8 – September 9	1	New Zealand	6	5	0	1	179	112	+67	3	23
		2	Australia	6	2	0	4	133	121	+12	3	11
		3	South Africa	6	2	0	4	106	185	−79	1	9
2007	June 16 – July 21	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	100	59	+41	1	13
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	76	80	-4	1	9
		3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	66	103	-37	1	5

[edit] Aggregate table

Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points	Championships
	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
New Zealand	50	35	0	15	1364	983	+381	23	163	8
Australia	50	20	1	29	1055	1140	-95	25	107	2
South Africa	50	19	1	30	1006	1292	-286	17	95	2

Updated 21 July 2007

[edit] Notes

1. ^ 2006 Tri-Nations draw. keo.co.za. Retrieved on 16 May 2006.
2. ^ About the Tri Nations. rugby.com.au. Retrieved on 16 May 2006.

[edit] References

• "ALL-TIME TRI-NATIONS TABLE". iafrica.com. Retrieved May 16, 2006.
• "Tri-Nations history". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved May 16, 2006.
• "Fixtures & Results". scrum.com. Retrieved May 16, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Allblacks.com
• Rugby.com.au
• Sarugby.net