The Rugby Championship: a Kiwi fan's perspective

[Melhor Time]

http://rugbyworldcup-argentina2023.blogspot.com/2011/11/argentina-in-four-nations-new-zealand.html

The Rugby Championship: a Kiwi fan's perspective

by Ian Cook

In 2012, the Tri-Nations becomes "The Rugby Championship" with the long overdue addition of the kid brother of Southern Hemisphere rugby, Los Pumas, to the SANZAR family. There will be a new schedule, in which the teams play six matches each; three home and three away. There will be two matches on each match day, and those will come at two week intervals to minimise the impact of travel and allow the players sufficient recovery time between matches.

The addition of Argentina to the Southern Hemisphere's premier international rugby tournament can only be a good thing for all involved. Even the most ardent fan of the Tri-Nations would surely agree that the tournament has become stale, and was badly in need of "freshening up".

For Argentina, this is has been a long time coming and while many people have been involved behind the scenes to make this happen, one man must take a lot of the credit for driving this... former Pumas scrum-half and captain Agustin Pichot. At times this man exhibited greater skills at shuttle diplomacy than the great Henry Kissinger, traveling from Buenos Aires to London to Manchester to Sydney to Lausanne (Switzerland) and back to Buenos Aires as he negotiated not only Argentina's entry to the Tri-Nations, but also helping the IRB to fine tune its bid to have Sevens included in the 2016 Olympics.

Argentina are a peculiar case indeed in International rugby, with no professional rugby competition in their own country, and with all of their international stars based in Europe, they have managed to punch well above their weight, knocking over all of the six nations sides in a 50% winning record (14 from 28) in the last four years. This has kept them in the top eight teams in the IRB World Rankings over that time, climbing as high as third. All this with hardly any real competitive test matches between world cups, and hardly any matches at all against their Southern Hemisphere brothers. To illustrate this point, in 2012, Los Pumas will play six matches against SANZAR teams. That is more than they have played against them in the last six years combined.

I have long been a proponent of Argentina joining us in SANZAR, and I am only sorry that it did not happen back in 2006 when the the quite incredible (some might even say "brain dead") decision was taken expand the competition by adding and extra round instead of adding an extra team. Argentina was reaching their peak at that time, and culminated in their best ever world cup in 2007 when they won the bronze medal.

I only hope that in the future, they can join us in full measure by coming to the Super Rugby party at some stage. An Argentine Conference (provided it was competitive) would make a great addition to the competition.

 

[Tricia McMillan]

There will be two matches on each match day, and those will come at two week intervals to minimise the impact of travel and allow the players sufficient recovery time between matches.

A bit misleading. There are not two weeks between every round. Rounds 1-2 are on back-to-back weekends as well as rounds 3-4 and 5-6, but there is an off week between each pair of rounds. The rounds and dates are:

Round 1: 18 August
Round 2: 25 August
Weekend of 1 September: off
Round 3: 8 September
Round 4: 15 September
Weekend of 22 September: off
Round 5: 29 September
Round 6: 6 October

Source: sport24.co.za

 

[Melhor Time]

[h=3]The Rugby Championship: an Australian's perspective[/h]

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The Rugby Championship: an Australian Fan's perspective

by Stuart Pearson

For a large number of Australians, Argentina is unfortunately a little-known country far removed from our shores, which many would regard as somewhat 'mysterious' and 'exotic'. Historically, it is the home of Tango, football, periodic military coups, Eva Peron and a regrettable war with Britain over a group of insignificant islands in the Southern Atlantic. However, with more than 100,000 descendants from South America now living in Australia (15,000 from Argentina alone), our perceptions are rapidly changing.

Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the warm relationship Australian rugby has long-held with Argentinean rugby. For example, the two countries have played 17 tests against each other since 1979. In the 1990s our bonds with each other were made even stronger, when Argentine prop Patricio Noriega immigrated to Australia to firstly play provincial rugby with the ACT Brumbies and then (after waiting the required qualifying period) 25 tests with the Wallabies. He retired from a distinguished playing career in 2003, but still performs a crucial role as the current scrum coach for the Wallabies.

In Australian rugby circles the recent announcement that Argentina will join an expanded Tri-Nations, was long overdue. The Australian Rugby CEO, John O'Neill who has advocated Argentina's inclusion for several years said, "The Rugby Championship will be the best of the best and represents the latest stage in the evolution of the game in the southern hemisphere. This will be an exciting, enthralling, intense Championship of home and away matches between four heavyweight nations."

From Australia's standpoint, this is a significant moment in the history of Southern Hemisphere rugby and marks the launching pad to a dramatically changed landscape. It will add a new flavour and dimension to SANZAR rugby and offers the prospect of promoting rugby in other South American nations.

This last point has, I believe, been overlooked by most commentators. The inclusion of Argentina into an expanded Southern Hemisphere Championship is only the first step. Argentina will be used to further expand rugby across the rest of South America. Likewise New Zealand will continue to influence the Pacific Islands; Australia, to push rugby in South East Asia and finally South Africa to expand rugby throughout the rest of the sub-Saharan Africa.

These are bold moves by SANZAR and the International Rugby Board to expand the game globally. No one really knows what the landscape of rugby will look like in ten or twenty years time, but one thing is absolutely clear – Argentina will play a pivotal role in rugby's future from now on. To all my friends in Argentina and especially Nestór Cadario in Cordoba, welcome to the toughest, most exciting rugby competition on the planet. Buena suerte!

 

[Melhor Time]

[h=3]Argentina in the Four Nations - South Africa Perspective[/h]

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The Rugby Championship: a South African Fan's perspective

by Dallen Stanford

Argentina was the only top 10 IRB ranked team that doesn't feature in an annual tournament. The recent news to expand the Tri Nations to include the Pumas into The Rugby Championship spells exciting times for rugby fans.

SANZAR's decision a couple of years ago to simply expand the number of matches amongst the Tri Nations teams did not have the desired affect. Sometimes less is more. The new format of each nation playing home and away is a perfect balance, and adds more meaning to the championship when the matches are less frequent.

Bringing Argentina into the Southern Hemisphere competition makes sense on many levels. The Pumas play an exciting brand of rugby (demonstrated by their 3rd place finish at the 2007 RWC), and will certainly add their own flavour to the competition. Spectators who follow their team around the globe now have another great destination to explore. South Africans in particular enjoy a similar culture to Argentina; eating tons of red meat, drinking, rugby and the beaches.

One of the main complaints about the Tri Nations from a South African perspective is the traveling. New Zealand and Australia are a stone's throw apart, which makes it less demanding for both those sides. The balance of traveling will shift slightly with Argentina joining the fray. It will take South Africa 9 hours to get to Argentina, but more importantly only have a 5-hour time difference. Compare that to more than 12 hours of travel to New Zealand or Australia (which doesn't include domestic travel), together with a time difference of anything from 9 to 11 hours.

South African's share similar lifestyle traits with Argentina, and the rugby culture of the South Americans have seen both SARFU and UAR working together in recent years. This development tool has seen Argentinean players competing in the South African Vodacom Cup competition since 2010. The Pampas XV is composed almost entirely by members of the High Performance Plan of the UAR. The team was first based in Stellenbosch (the breading ground of many Springboks), and this year re-located to Potchefstroom. After a fourth-placed finish in 2010, the Pampas XV team won the 2011 Vodacom Cup ***le, thanks to an unbeaten run.

South Africa has also used several top international players in their Currie Cup and Super Rugby campaigns, the two most famous Argentineans being Federico Méndez and Juan Martín Hernández.

Méndez was instrumental for Natal in 1996 - winning the Currie Cup competition and finishing second in the Super 12. Hernández, despite getting injured during the season, was part of the Natal team that eventually won the 2010 Currie Cup over Western Province.

Having Argentina form The Rugby Championship is fantastic for the game, and one only has to look at the rugby development in a country like Italy, since they joined the Five Nations in 2000, making it the Six Nations. My bet is that Argentina will beat Australia and the Springboks at least once in the first two years of this new series.

Without a competition like this, here are the statistics of Argentina against the Tri Nations teams:

Argentina vs Australia: Played 17 Won 4 Lost 12 Drew 1
Argentina vs New Zealand: Played 17 Lost 16 Drew 1
Argentina vs South Africa: Played 13 Lost 13

The 2012 Rugby Championship:

August 18 –
Australia v New Zealand (ANZ Stadium, Sydney)
South Africa v Argentina (Newlands, Cape Town)

August 25 –
New Zealand v Australia (Eden Park, Auckland)
Argentina v South Africa (TBC)

September 1 - Travel Bye

September 8 –
Australia v South Africa (Patersons Stadium, Perth)
New Zealand v Argentina (Westpac Stadium, Wellington)

September 15 –
Australia v Argentina (Skilled Park, Gold Coast)
New Zealand v South Africa (Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin)

September 22 - Travel Bye

September 29 –
South Africa v Australia (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
Argentina v New Zealand (TBC)

October 6 –

South Africa v New Zealand (FNB Stadium, Soweto)
Argentina v Australia (TBC)

 

[Seaton]

Good reads, however Hernandez was only part of the Sharks Currie Cup team in 2009, and as you know got injured before the Super14 started in 2010, after which was when he left us.

 

[paulnixon]

As i know that I've long been a supporter of Argentina with us in the SANZAR, and only regret is that it happened in 2006 when the absolutely incredible (some might even say "brain dead") took the decision to expand the competition by addition and round instead of adding extra additional equipment. Argentina was reaching its peak at that time, culminating in his best ever World Cup in 2007 when he won the bronze medal.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Melhor time forgot about the Pampas XV who plays in the vodacom cup in SA which is an Argentina based team.

While I'm all for Argentina joining the SH powerhouses in an annual tournament, I get the feeling they will be introduced to a hard reality, just like Italy in the 6 Nations tournament in the beginning.

What will be a positive for the Argentinians though is the fact that a lot of their guys play in the Heineken cup so the time difference in SA won't be of any effect if they come from the NH directly. SA and Argentina also have the same type of pitches, ie, hard under foot, which might be to their advantage.

the Big negative though is, the travelling. it's gonna be a real *****! every team is basically going to go 360 degrees around the globe in the southern hemisphere part.

 

[smartcooky]

What will be a positive for the Argentinians though is the fact that a lot of their guys play in the Heineken cup so the time difference in SA won't be of any effect if they come from the NH directly. SA and Argentina also have the same type of pitches, ie, hard under foot, which might be to their advantage.

the Big negative though is, the travelling. it's gonna be a real *****! every team is basically going to go 360 degrees around the globe in the southern hemisphere part.

My understanding is that their releases will be for the whole International Window, from the beginning to the end of The Rugby Championship (August to October). They will be "in squad" for the whole period, and will not be travelling back to their clubs between matches. That is what the LNR, PRL and Pro12 agreed to, and what the amendment to IRB Regulation 9 states;

[TEXTAREA]IRB Regulation 9.8
Effective from 1 June 2012 a Tournament Release Period shall be introduced to be known as the Four Nations Release Period.

(c) Four Nations Release Period

(i) The Right to Release for Matches shall apply to Players who are eligible pursuant to Regulation 8 to represent the senior, the next senior National Representative Team or the Under 20 National Representative Team of a Four Nations Union in the Four Nations International Tournament during the Four Nations Release Period.

(ii) Unless Council approves otherwise the Four Nations Release Period shall operate each year for an eight week period. It shall commence on or around the third weekend in August and shall conclude on or around the first weekend in October each year. Players shall be released prior to the Four Nations Release Period in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 9.9.[/TEXTAREA]