Tri-Nations Rugby

The Tri Nations is the culmination of the Southern hemispheres rugby season. Introduced in 1996 it has been dominated by the
All Blacks with 39 wins compared to Australias 23 and South Africa 21. Currently teams play each other three times with three
home fixtures, two against the same team and one against the other.The Tri Nations only starts in July of each year after the
end of the Super 14 Tournament, and points are allocated on the same basis as the Super14 competition which are:-

1. 4 points for a win
2. 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries
3. The losing team are awarded a bonus point if their loss is by 7 points or less.

Since its inception the All Blacks have won the competition 9 times, with South Africa and Australia winning only twice each.
In 1931, Lord Bledisloe the then Governer General of New Zealand donated a cup, the largest trophy cup in world rugby, for a competition between Australia and New Zealand, which is played annually as part of the Tri Nations, but only between Australia and New Zealand. The test was played alternatively in either country except for 2008 when it was played in Hong Kong. Apparently plans are in progress to have this years(2009) test played in Tokyo.

Top scorers in the competition are also dominated by New Zealand players with Christian Cullen who played full back running in 16 tries and Andrew Mehrtens, at fly-half, top scorer with 328 points, made up of 1 try, 34 conversions, 82 penalties and 3 drop goals.

Plans are in the pipeline to include Argentina (Los Pumas). and a Southern Pacific Islands team, mainly made up of Samoa and
Fiji, into the Tri-Nations Competition to make it a 5 nations Tournament. This would only come into effect in 2012 as there are certain contracts that need to run through to their expiry dates in 2011.