Rugby: Tri-Nations to expand, Argentina included
Tri-Nations is an alliance of the Rugby Union of New Zealand (All Blacks), South Africa (Springboks), and the Australia (Wallabies).The three nations started playing annually from 1991, but the alliance could not take the formal form till 1995. During 1996, the three nations decided on a ten year plane of annual competition among themselves and a fund of £360 million. This agreement between the three leading nations of rugby is considered to be the landmark in its history, and the alliance named as “Tri-Nation”.
The three nations who have made the alliance are considered to be the top rugby teams in the world. They occupy the top three positions in the world ranking list of IRB (International Rugby Union). Among them New Zealand occupies the top position in the ranking. New Zealand has been able to dominate the world of Rugby for the last two decades. No one so far has been in a position to defeat the All Blacks of New Zealand.
Similarly, in the Tri-Nations internal annual competition, New Zealand has always been at the top position. Except for 2000 and 2004, where Australia and South Africa were the winners, all the other matches are won by All Black so far, and they still seem to be in a position to dominate the Tri-Nations.
The team which comes at the second number among the Tri-Nations is the South African team.
The Tri-Nation has set strong conditions to be fulfilled by the team interested to join the alliance. No one since the inception of the alliance has been able to fulfil these conditions to join the alliance.
However, from the last few years rumours regarding Argentina’s inclusion into Tri-Nations have been a part of the news daily. Few years back Argentina had requested its inclusion into the alliance, but the tri-nation member could not reach a consensus regarding Argentina’s inclusion into the alliance.
Although rugby is not that popular in Argentina as football is, after 1995 the game gained fame inside the country. During the 1999 World Cup they showed great performance and came up to the fourth position in the IRB World Ranking list. In 2007 the team further enhanced its capacity and attracted the fans inside and outside to a great extent. The Argentinean rugby team occupies the 8th position according to the latest IRB World Rankings
The Wallabies and Springboks supported Argentinean inclusion into Tri-Nations but it is said that it was the All Blacks who opposed their inclusion into the alliance. Although, it took long to decide about the Argentinean case, after consultation with IRB the Tri-Nation accepted the Argentinean demand and asked the latter to join the alliance till 2012.The Tri-Nations alliance has also decided to further increase the number of the members in the near future.
Due to the strong conditions set by the members of the Tri-Nation, which is to be met before entering the alliance, no team has been able to become its member. But due to the good performance of the Argentinean team during the recent years, the Tri-Nations were compelled to decide in the favour of Argentina, after the latter formally sent a request to the former to be allowed entry into the alliance. The inclusion of the Argentinean team into the Tri-Nation alliance is therefore considered to be one of the greatest steps forward in the development of international Rugby and this decision has received encouragement from many quarters.
In a nutshell we can say, since its inception in 1991, the Tri-Nation alliance has been dominating the world of rugby. According to the IRB World Ranking list, they occupy the first three positions, especially, the presence of the All Blacks, which is the top team of the world has increased its importance to a great extent. Tri- Nation members resisted the inclusion of the other teams into the alliance for a long time, but the good performance by the Argentinean team during recent competitions, compelled the formers to accept the request of the latter for their entry into the alliance.
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