The 2006 Tri Nations Series, an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, marked the tenth anniversary of the original competition. With three rounds still remaining, the New Zealand All Blacks were assured of first place in the competition after their victory over Australia on 19 August, their 21st consecutive home win.
This year, for the first time, each team played the others three times, instead of twice, as had been the case previously. This was the result of a new television deal between SANZAR, the consortium of the three countries' rugby federations that organises the tournament, and broadcasters in the SANZAR countries and the United Kingdom. As a result, the duration of the competition was extended and it ran from 8 July to 9 September.
The All Blacks won all three matches against Australia, thus retaining the Bledisloe Cup. They also won two of their three matches against South Africa, thereby winning the Freedom Cup for the first time. Australia regained the Mandela Challenge Plate after winning their two home tests against South Africa.
Famous quotes containing the words nations and/or series:
“Poetry is the most direct and simple means of expressing oneself in words: the most primitive nations have poetry, but only quite well developed civilizations can produce good prose. So don’t think of poetry as a perverse and unnatural way of distorting ordinary prose statements: prose is a much less natural way of speaking than poetry is. If you listen to small children, and to the amount of chanting and singsong in their speech, you’ll see what I mean.”
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