In 1996, a rugby competition was established to create a southern hemisphere equivalent to the Northern Hemisphere's Six Nations Championship. The Six Nations Rugby is phenomenally popular in Europe and has even developed a large fanbase in North America given the widely acclaimed Netflix Series, Six Nations: Full Contact.
The southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship began as the Tri Nations contested by the All Blacks of New Zealand, Australia's Wallabies, and the South African Springboks. It has since expanded to include a fourth team, the Pumas of Argentina. One could refer to it as the Southern Hemisphere's "Four Nations" tournament, although the official name is "The Rugby Championship".
From its inception in 1996 until 2011, when the tournament was contested by 3 teams only, the All Blacks dominated, winning 10 of the 16 titles contested. South Africa and Australia each won the trophy 3 times during those years. The 4-team Rugby Championship Era (from 2012 to present) has seen Argentina included, and the format is now a double round-robin with each team playing every other team twice during the tournament. The inclusion of the Pumas created new rivalries and added a new dynamic to the competition.
Since the expansion of the tournament in 2012, the All Blacks have continued their dominance, securing most of the titles. While both South Africa and Australia have also won the competition, Argentina has yet to claim a championship. Aside for the Rugby World Cup itself, this is the biggest trophy these teams can win. South Africa is the team to beat right now, as current World Cup holders.
So, the tournament started last weekend and Australia came to Johannesburg, in the heart of the highveld of South Africa, for the opening match. Team Australia was somewhat battle-hardened from the recent narrow home series loss to the British and Irish Lions, but its record in South Africa made it an obvious underdog for this match. Australia hadn't won a rugby match against the Springboks at Ellis Park, the country's main rugby stadium located in its biggest city, Johannesburg, since 1963.
This stadium in Joburg gives South Africa the greatest home advantage of any stadium in the country. The crowd is always large and boisterous. It is where the Springboks won the 1995 World Cup final against the All Blacks, where Nelson Mandela wore a springbok jersey and celebrated with the team on the field immediately after the match. In 1998 the Springboks (Boks) secured their first Tri Nations title with a 29-15 win over the Wallabies at the stadium. There was a thrilling match in 2002, where a try after the final hooter gave the Boks a dramatic 33-31 victory over Australia. More rugby victories against Australia at Ellis Park ensued in subsequent years.
So, when the Wallabies went down by 22-0 last weekend nobody was surprised. But, somehow, magic happened and the Australian rugby team pulled off a small miracle and came back in the second half to win the match at Ellis Park. This left all the Boks, the coaching staff, the commentators, and especially the home crowd in Joburg, in a state of shock. Prior to the tie, the history books favored South Africa, the current form favored South Africa, and the pitch favored South Africa. And the Bok team came out confident and went up in points during the match. Then they relaxed maybe just a little bit and saw the Aussies score a string of opportunistic tries, all while they looked around at each other wondering what just happened.
Ellis Park is the crown jewel for the Springboks. To lose at Ellis Park is unthinkable and heartbreaking for many. But, it happened. And it will be a sore point for many proud South Africans for years to come. In the process of losing to Australia, South Africa also lost their world number one ranking to New Zealand. Fortunately, for the sake of maintaining a healthy competition, Springboks took some measure of revenge and beat Australia 30-22 today, Saturday September 23rd, in the second leg of the tournament in Cape Town.
There is, perhaps, only one other stadium in world rugby that has the same hallowed status as Ellis Park, and where a loss would be equally devastating for the home crowd. And that is Eden Park in Aukland, New Zealand. That stadium is New Zealand's national stadium and is the spiritual home of the All Blacks. New Zealand's national rugby team have an extraordinary 30 year unbeaten streak there. Often referred to as their "fortress," Eden Park is a venue where they have not lost a test match since 1994. Their last loss there was on July 3, 1994, to France (20-23 score). Granted, the All Blacks have had a couple of draws at the stadium since then, but no international team has been able to secure a win against them on that field in 50 consecutive test matches.
Well, maybe Australia or South Africa can change that this year. In the next rounds of this year's Rugby Championship both the Wallabies and the Boks play the All Blacks at the Eden park stadium - the Boks on September 6th and the Aussies on September 27th. Will history be made? You can watch the games live on the Florugby site or on their Facebook page. The full match schedule for the remainder of the tournament is below (times are US CT).
