The 2006 Tri Nations Series, an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, marks the tenth anniversary of the original competition. The competition is organised by SANZAR, a consortium of the three countries' rugby federations.
This year, the competetion will run from June 8 to September 9 due to the extension of the tournament. For the first time, each team will play the others three times. This was the result of a new television deal between SANZAR and broadcasters in the SANZAR countries and the United Kingdom. Previously, each team played the other twice.
The Bledisloe Cup will be contested in all three Australia-New Zealand fixtures, while the Australia-South Africa fixtures will determine the Mandela Challenge Plate.
As in past competitions, points are earned on the following schedule:
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss
- 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries or more, regardless of the match result
- 1 bonus point for a loss by 7 points or less
The run-up
At the end of 2005, the Wallabies looked to be a team in decline, having just ended an all-time record Test losing streak of seven. The streak led to the sacking of coach Eddie Jones and his replacement by John Connolly. The 2006 mid-year Tests saw significant improvement, with two blowout wins over England and a comfortable win over Ireland. Ireland star Brian O'Driscoll, who played against both the Wallabies and All Blacks in the mid-year Tests, was more impressed by the Wallabies, tipping them as favourites over the All Blacks.[1]
Going into the competition, the All Blacks, notwithstanding O'Driscoll's assessment, are the clear favourites as the top-ranked team in the world, coming off a year in 2005 in which they only lost one Test (their away fixture against South Africa in the 2005 Tri Nations) and an undefeated run through the 2006 mid-year Tests. However, All Blacks coach Graham Henry used the mid-year Tests to experiment with his squad. They had to come back in the last 20 minutes to win their first Test against Ireland, and had to survive a last-minute push by Argentina at Vélez Sársfield. Despite these close victories amidst much New Zealand complacency, the All Blacks do possess a strong, co-ordinated forward pack, quality playmakers, explosive backs and blistering pace outwide. Their most important asset is arguably their depth in all positions.
Of the three teams in the competition, the Springboks enter with the most questions. The selection policy of coach Jake White was controversial in 2005, with White choosing to primarily stay with veterans of South Africa's victorious 2004 Tri Nations squad. His choices eventually panned out, with the Boks only narrowly losing out to the All Blacks in the 2005 Tri Nations. White largely stayed with his veterans in the 2006 mid-year Tests, which led to even more controversy among Boks supporters. In the meantime, several key Boks players were unavailable during the mid-year Tests due to injury, among them André Pretorius and Bakkies Botha. The Boks won two Tests over Scotland, but suffered a huge blow in the second Test when 2004 World Player of the Year Schalk Burger suffered a career-threatening neck injury. They went on to lose to France at Newlands, their first home loss since 2003. In that Test, they lost two key backs, Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana, to rib injuries. De Villiers is out for the entire Tri Nations, but Habana has recovered.[2] As for other players, Pretorius will be out for at least the first two Boks matches, while Botha is out for the entire series.[3] White named four newcomers to his Tri Nations squad.[4]
Standings
| Nation | Games | Points | Bonus points |
Table points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| played | won | drawn | lost | for | against | difference | |||
 Australia |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 New Zealand |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 South Africa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fixtures and Results
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9