With the Rugby World Cup finishing up with South Africa taking the third title, some people are still eager for more action, which is why they tuned in to see what happened during the Rugby Championship.

What Is Rugby Championship?

The Rugby Championship is the international tournament in rugby between four nations: Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The tournament was previously known as Tri Nations, but Argentina joined in 2012. The format of the competition changed a few times over the years and the standard now is to have teams fight other teams in one match each.

The teams in question are awfully close to each other regarding numbers of wins and matches. However, most titles have gone to New Zealand. In fact, these teams all hone their skills to such an extent that they all fare rather well in the Rugby World Cup, generally speaking.

2019

The 8th edition of this tournament took place from the 20^th of July till the 10^th of August. Because of the World Cup that was scheduled for the same year, the tournament had a reduced format. The scoring was standard, with the winner of each match getting 4 points, draw awarded 2 points, losing with seven or fewer points got you a single bonus point, and bigger losses meant no points.

In the first round, South Africa defeated Australia 35-17, with the man of the match being Herschel Jantjies. Argentina managed to get a point out of their match against New Zealand – the score was 16-20. When New Zealand and South Africa clashed on the field during the second round, the match ended in a draw. Australia defeated Argentina with 16-10.

During the third round, Australia obliterated New Zealand, much like South Africa did Argentina. The bottom line is that South Africa once again established itself as the master of the sport. Australia was one win shy of being a serious threat and New Zealand had the misfortune of winning one match, losing another, and getting a draw. Argentina finished the Championship with just two points, having lost all of their encounters with other teams.

This was a good year for South Africa, as they managed to get a hold of their fourth title, despite the fact that they were unable to win the Championship since its inception. The other three titles won by the team occurred during the Tri Nations tournament.

Bledisloe Cup

Interestingly enough, there is another event that is, in a way, incorporated into the Rugby Championship – the Bledisloe Cup. It is a rugby competition between Australia and New Zealand. Unsurprisingly, New Zealand won the competition once again, as they have done so many times before. As both the Championship and the Bledisloe Cup are annual events, the Aussies have a chance to turn things around next year. As there will be no major rugby events on a global scale, it is very likely that there will be no shortening of the competition’s format, meaning we will get to see more games played and a clearer picture of each team’s true abilities.