The Rugby Championship is an annual rugby union competition, contested by the 4 sides consistently ranked highest in the Southern Hemisphere: Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The tournament is often likened to a Southern Hemisphere Six Nations, due to the stature of the event, and the myriad rivalries which characterise the fixtures, however the formats of the 2 competitions are slightly different.
The first Rugby Championship took place in 1996, with New Zealand coming out on top thanks to an impressive 100% record across their 4 matches. Then known as the Tri Nations Series, the tournament later changed its name following the inclusion of Argentina in 2012. The tournament is still known by slightly different names in each participatory nation, due to sponsorship reasons. Since their first win in 1996, New Zealand have gone on to win the Rugby Championship (or Tri Nations) trophy on more occasions than any other team, but there is rarely a runaway winner: every single match is hard-fought, with grudges and rivalries intensifying year-on-year. Argentina's recent inclusion has also added to the Rugby Championship’s spectacle, broadening the competition’s audience and testing even more of the Southern Hemisphere's top players at the highest level.
