The Rugby Championship
| The Rugby Championship | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition:: 2017 Rugby Championship
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Official logo
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| Sport | Rugby union |
| Formerly known as | The Tri Nations |
| Inaugural season |
1996 (as the Tri Nations) 2012 |
| Number of teams | 4 |
| Countries |
 Argentina Australia New Zealand South Africa
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| Holders |
New Zealand (2016)
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| Broadcast partner |
Sky Sport (New Zealand) Network Ten (Australia) Fox Sports (Australia) ESPN & TV Pública (Argentina) SuperSport (South Africa) ESPN3 (United States) Sky Sports (United Kingdom) |
| Related competition |
Bledisloe Cup Freedom Cup Mandela Challenge Plate Puma Trophy |
The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Prior to the 2012 tournament, when Argentina joined, it was known as the Tri Nations. The competition is administered by SANZAAR, a consortium consisting of four national governing bodies; the Argentine Rugby Union, Australian Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Union.
The inaugural Tri Nations tournament was in 1996, and was won by New Zealand – known as the All Blacks. South Africa won their first title in 1998, and Australia their first in 2000. Following the last Tri Nations tournament in 2011, New Zealand had won ten championships, with South Africa and Australia on three titles each. The first Rugby Championship was won by New Zealand, who won all six of their matches.
New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have frequently been ranked among the top rugby nations with the latter two teams winning the Rugby World Cup twice and New Zealand winning it three times. Argentina have been ranked as high as third in the IRB World Rankings and have twice reached the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, a higher achievement than Italy, Scotland, and Ireland among the Six Nations teams.
Australia and New Zealand first played each other in 1903. South Africa toured both nations in 1921 but there was never any formal competition between these teams, unlike the Home Nations (now known as the Six Nations Championship) in the Northern Hemisphere and the three nations only met sporadically.
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