The 2007

Tri Nations Series The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...

was an annual

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition between the national teams of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The series began in South Africa on 16 June, with a

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

between South Africa and Australia at

Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region New Zealand * Newlands, Wellington, a suburb of Wellington South Africa * Newlands, Cape Town, a suburb of Cape Town * Newlands, Johannesbur ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and ended on 21 July in

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

with a Test between New Zealand and Australia. The winners, for the third consecutive year, were New Zealand. The 2007 series consisted of six matches (two home matches each), three fewer than the 2006 series, because of the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

which would commence on 7 September. The draw was scheduled to ensure that no team played more than two matches in a row, the early finish allowing each team seven full weeks before the start of the World Cup. The competition reverted to a nine-Test series from 2008 onwards. Early in 2007, it was thought that there was a chance that could be admitted to the competition as early as 2008, as it had been reported that the worldwide governing body for rugby union, the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

, was brokering a deal for the entry of the ''Pumas''. However, by August of that year, it became clear that the competition would not be expanded while the current media contracts ran; the key contract with

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

would not expire until 2010. The tournament had been put into jeopardy after the Springboks team confirmed they were sending a below strength side for the Australasian leg of the tournament.

Springbok selection controversy

New Zealand and Australian rugby officials considered on the news of the below strength Springbok team, that they might consider scrapping their remaining fixtures against South Africa but cited that because of many arrangements including broadcasting, stadium and ticket arrangements that it might be too complicated. The ARU also retracted proposals to continue the series without the Springboks after

SARU The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...

sent a medical report, citing a sport scientist saying "they (the Springboks) might as well not bother going to the World Cup" if they send top injured players to the remaining games. The match turned out to be much more competitive than many observers had predicted, with South Africa storming to a 17–0 lead in the first 16 minutes before the Wallabies regained their composure to eventually overrun the Boks 25–17.

Standings

Results

''All times are local.''

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

References

External links

All Blacks Tri Nations website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tri Nations

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2007 in South African rugby union 2007 in New Zealand rugby union 2007 in Australian rugby union 2007 rugby union tournaments for national teams