Following the 2011 Tri Nations competition, New Zealand had won 10 titles, with South Africa and Australia each having three. New Zealand won the inaugural Rugby Championship by winning all six of their matches. This gave them the right to host the 2015 World Cup.
New Zealand has won the World Cup on five occasions - in 1990, 1994, 1999, 2003 and 2007. The country also holds the record for most consecutive world cup victories with four - from 1986 to 1989 they won every match they played.
Australia has never been defeated by New Zealand at home but they did lose to the All Blacks in 1899 during the original Tri Nations tournament. The match was played at Hamilton Park in Oamaru, New Zealand and ended in a 1-1 draw. Australian captain Michael Hawker scored two first-half tries to give his side a 2-0 lead before the All Blacks' forward George Smith scored twice in the second half to bring the game back to 1-1.
Hawker's early tries proved crucial as it prevented any possibility of an All Black comeback victory. The match was played in harsh weather conditions with heavy rain falling throughout the game. It is believed this was because the sun had not yet risen over Oamaru at the start of the tournament.
Rugby Championship (Tri-Nations) Champions History, 1996–2019. The Rugby Championship (TRC) is an annual international Rugby-Union competition between four nations: Australia (Wallabies), New Zealand (All Blacks), South Africa, and Argentina, who joined in 2012. It was previously known as the Tri-Nations. The current champions are New Zealand, who defeated Australia 26–9 in the 2019 final at Eden Park, Auckland.
Australia won the first two titles before New Zealand took over as rulers of the championship. The All Blacks have won three out of four finals they have played in, with one draw. They will be hoping to become the first team to retain the title.
The winner of the Rugby Championship receives the Paddy McGuinness Trophy. It is named after former Irish rugby player Paddy McGuinness who represented both Ireland and England during the early years of rugby union. The trophy is designed by Australian silversmith Rosalie Vasta.
The tournament has been described as the most competitive series in world rugby, with each nation going into their respective tournaments trying to win it.
The 2019 season saw a change to the schedule, with the addition of a second match on Saturday nights. This meant that each team now plays four matches over ten weeks, with the exception of Argentina who only play three due to hosting the World Cup.
Rugby is New Zealand's national sport. Their powerful national rugby team, known as the Black Shaves, has won the Rugby World Cup THREE TIMES (1987, 2011, and 2015), more than any other team in the world. Football is the most popular sport in New Zealand, with cricket being the second most popular.
New Zealand is a small country with a large population. So which sport dominates the sports scene there? It's hard to say since different countries have different sports available to them, but rugby does pretty well. The only other sport that even comes close is football (or soccer).
In New Zealand, school students are expected to play at least one sport during their time in education. This is called "opening days" for schools that do not have a sporting tradition of their own. Usually, this means joining an existing team or creating one yourself.
Students can choose between several different sports when they join a school team. This is called "allocation" and it's done by teachers and coaches who know how talented each child is at different sports. Sometimes children will be allocated to different schools because they are good at different sports - like basketball at one school and netball at another.
There are several different versions of rugby worldwide, but in New Zealand they use a version called "sevens".
Rugby World Cup [edit] South Africa has won four tournaments: in 1998, 2004, 2009, and 2019. The Springboks were defeated by Australia in the 2007 Rugby World Cup final. Previously, they had won the 1995 and 2003 editions of the tournament.
Their fourth World Cup victory was also their first since 2007. It came at a canter: 43-17 over England in the final at Yokohama Stadium. The match was already decided when John Smit scored one of the most famous tries in World Cup history with just under five minutes remaining. JP Pietersen added two more penalties before half time to make it 12-3 to the Boks. In the second half, England failed to score and apart from a George Ford penalty, they lost further possession easily.
The victory gave South Africa its first world title in nine attempts. It also marked Peter de Villiers' second world cup triumph as coach of the Springboks. De Villiers had previously led his side to victory in 1995 as player-coach. Before then, his only previous international appointment had been as assistant to Danie Craven during the 1991 British Lions tour to South Africa.
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