The Rugby Tri Nations and Beyond Quiz

Answer: Southern hemisphere

The competition was conceived as a counterpart to the Six Nations (originally Five Nations) tournament held between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France initially, with Italy a later addition. The three nations are New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

Answer: New Zealand

New Zealand won in both 1996 and 1997 before South Africa broke the pattern. New Zealand bounced back the following year before Australia took its first win in 2000, following it up with a second win in 2001. Between the start of the competition in 1996 and 2021 inclusive New Zealand has been by far the most successful team with eighteen wins while Australia and South Africa have four each.

Answer: Bledisloe Cup

There is some dispute over whether the Bledisloe Cup began in 1931 or 1932, but it is a well established competition. The number of matches played varies depending upon whether or not the Rugby World Cup is also on that year's schedule, but consists of three matches in the early twenty-first century. Other competitions which are also included as part of the main contest are the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate between Australia and South Africa, the Freedom Cup between South Africa and New Zealand and the Puma Trophy between Australia and Argentina.

The Trans-Tasman Trophy is a cricket competition between New Zealand and Australia, the Calcutta Cup is awarded to the winner of the Six Nations match between Scotland and England and the Melrose Cup is for the winners of the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Answer: True

In the Six Nations, teams play only one match against other nations with this changing each year between being a home or an away fixture. The Tri Nations held fixtures both home and away and continued this after Argentina joined. The schedule is reduced in years when the Rugby World Cup is held and the 2020 tournament (renamed back to the Tri Nations for that year) was held solely in Australia due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Answer: 1998

South Africa won all four of the matches they played, although two of them were by the narrowest possible margin. The game against Australia, in Australia, ended with 13 points to Australia and 14 to South Africa, while they defeated New Zealand in their home fixture by 24 points to 23. It was a poor year for New Zealand by their normal standards as they lost all four of their matches.

Answer: New Zealand

New Zealand's team is known as the All Blacks, due to the kit they wear - black shorts with a black jersey adorned with a silver fern. The Australian team is called the Wallabies, Argentina's nickname is the Pumas and Springboks represent the South Africans. New Zealand's rugby league team would fit the animal theme, though, since they are the Kiwis.

Answer: Bryan Habana

All these players are well known for their contributions from the wing with Campese being Australian and Howlett and Lomu having played for New Zealand. It is the South African winger Bryan Habana who was the most prolific try scorer during the period quoted in the question. Habana played mostly on the wing and scored 67 tries in international matches during his long career with the first coming against England in 2004 and his final one against Italy in 2016.

Unfortunately, South Africa lost both these matches, but Bryan contributed to many wins while representing his country.

Answer: The Rugby Championship

The Rugby Championship became the new name and has been used every year between 2012 and 2021 (the most recent at the time of writing) apart from 2020. Due to the Covid pandemic, South Africa withdrew so the contest reverted to its original name of Tri Nations with the teams participating being New Zealand, Australia and Argentina.

Answer: 8

Much like Italy in the Six Nations, Argentina has struggled against its strong opponents, finishing bottom of the table regularly. The only times they have avoided the wooden spoon are in 2015 when South Africa lost all their matches and in 2020. That year both Argentina and Australia won one match and drew two, but Argentina finished above Australia with a better points difference - i.e. the difference between the points they scored and the points conceded.

Answer: Dan Carter

Only two of the men listed played in the Tri Nations - Wilkinson is English and Davies is Welsh. Lynagh is Australian but Dan Carter is the correct answer - New Zealand's top points scorer overall and in the competition covered in this quiz. The fly half controls the game and often acts as goal kicker as well, as Carter did, so the opportunity for points scoring is higher for whoever plays in this position. Even taking this into account, Carter's record is phenomenal with a tally of 554 points in the Tri Nations and its successor and 1598 amassed from all the tests he played in (112 in all).