Tri Nations Series champions is the title given to the rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 nation (either Australia

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

, New Zealand

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 or South Africa

South Africa national rugby union team

The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...

) that finishes at the top of the annual Tri Nations Series competition table following the completion of a tournament. The Bledisloe Cup

Bledisloe Cup

Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup is contested by the Australia national rugby union team and New Zealand national rugby union team. It is named after Lord Bledisloe, the former Governor-General of New Zealand who donated the trophy in 1931. The trophy was designed in New Zealand by Nelson Isaac, and...

, 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. 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

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

 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

SANZAR

SANZAR is the body which operates Super Rugby and Tri Nations competitions in rugby union. It is a joint venture of the South African Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Australian Rugby Union, formed in 1996.Created shortly after rugby's move to professionalism in 1995, SANZAR's two...

 partners (along with the provincial Super 12 competition, now, Super 14

Super 14

Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...

). 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

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 (then, the Five Nations). 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 10 championships, whereas Australia and South Africa have each won the series three times. New Zealand has won consecutive championships on three occasions (1996-1997, 2002-2003, and 2005-2008) and Australia on one occasion (2000-2001).

Tournaments (1996-2011)

59

50

4

26

42

27

18

10

6

9

32

5

77

12

25

67

12

41

46

28

10

73

13

31

Year	Duration	Table position	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points
				played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1996 1996 Tri Nations Series The 1996 Tri Nations Series was contested from 6 July to 10 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The All Blacks won the inaugural tournament.-Table:-Results:...	6 July – 10 August	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	119	60
		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 1997 Tri Nations Series The 1997 Tri Nations Series was contested from 19 July to 23 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The All Blacks continued their unbeaten record to win their second tournament.-Results:...	19 July – 27 August	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	159	109
		2	17
		2	South Africa	4	1	0	3	148	144
3	7
3	Australia	4	1	0	3	96	150	−54	2	6
1998 1998 Tri Nations Series The 1998 Tri Nations Series was contested from 11 July to 22 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The Springboks won the tournament.-Table:-Results:...	11 July – 22 August	1	South Africa	4	4	0	0	80	54
		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 1999 Tri Nations Series The 1999 Tri Nations Series was contested from 10 July to 28 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The All Blacks won the tournament.-Table:-Results:...	10 July – 28 August	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	103	61
		0	12
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	84	57
2	10
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	34	103	−69	0	4
2000 2000 Tri Nations Series The 2000 Tri Nations Series was contested from 15 July to 26 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams...	15 July – 26 August	1	Australia	4	3	0	1	104	86
		2	14
		2	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	127	117
2	10
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	82	110	−28	2	6
2001 2001 Tri Nations Series The 2001 Tri Nations Series was contested from 21 July to 1 September between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams...	21 July – 1 September	1	Australia	4	2	1	1	81	75
		1	11
		2	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	79	70
1	9
3	South Africa	4	1	1	2	52	67	−15	0	6
2002 2002 Tri Nations Series The 2002 Tri Nations Series was contested from 13 July to 17 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The All Blacks won the tournament.-Table:-Results:...	13 July – 17 August	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	97	65
		3	15
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	91	86
3	11
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	103	140	−37	3	7
2003 2003 Tri Nations Series The 2003 Tri Nations Series was contested from 12 July to 16 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The All Blacks won the tournament.-Table:-Results:...	12 July – 16 August	1	New Zealand	4	4	0	0	142	65
		2	18
		2	Australia	4	1	0	3	89	106	−17	2	6
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	62	122	−60	0	4
2004 2004 Tri Nations Series The 2004 Tri Nations Series, an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, was the ninth in the series. The competition is organised by SANZAR, a consortium of the three countries' rugby union federations...	17 July – 21 August	1	South Africa	4	2	0	2	110	98
		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 2005 Tri Nations Series -Round Two:-Round Three:-Round Four:-Round Five:-Round Six:-External links:* at Rugby.com.aurugby union schedule for 2005...	30 July – 3 September	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	111	86
		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 2006 Tri Nations Series -Week 2:-Week 3:-Week 4:* All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup-Week 5:-Week 6:-Week 7:-Week 8:-Week 9:-External links:* * *...	8 July – 9 September	1	New Zealand	6	5	0	1	179	112
		3	23
		2	Australia	6	2	0	4	133	121
3	11
3	South Africa	6	2	0	4	106	185	−79	1	9
2007 2007 Tri Nations Series The 2007 Tri Nations Series was an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The series began in South Africa on 16 June, with a Test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands, Cape Town and ended on 21 July in Eden Park, Auckland...	16 June – 21 July	1	New Zealand	4	3	0	1	100	59
		1	13
		2	Australia	4	2	0	2	76	80
1	9
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	66	103
1	5
2008 2008 Tri Nations Series The 2008 Tri Nations Series was the thirteenth annual Tri Nations competition between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa...	5 July – 13 September	1	New Zealand	6	4	0	2	152	106
		3	19
		2	Australia	6	3	0	3	119	163
2	14
3	South Africa	6	2	0	4	115	117
2	10
2009 2009 Tri Nations Series The 2009 Tri Nations Series was the fourteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks...	18 July – 19 September	1	South Africa	6	5	0	1	158	130
		1	21
		2	New Zealand	6	3	0	3	141	131
1	13
3	Australia	6	1	0	5	103	141
3	7
2010 2010 Tri Nations Series The 2010 Tri Nations Series is the fifteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks...	10 July – 11 September	1	New Zealand	6	6	0	0	184	111
		3	27
		2	Australia	6	2	0	4	162	188
3	11
3	South Africa	6	1	0	5	147	194
3	7
2011 2011 Tri Nations Series The 2011 Tri Nations Series was the sixteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks. It was also the last series in which only three teams...	23 July – 27 August	1	Australia	4	3	0	1	92	79
		1	13
		2	New Zealand	4	2	0	2	95	64
2	10
3	South Africa	4	1	0	3	54	98
1	5

External links

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