2010 Tri Nations Series

The 2010 Tri Nations Series was the 15th annual Tri Nations series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

New Zealand clinched the series crown with one match remaining, scoring two tries in the last 3 minutes to defeat South Africa 29–22 on 21 August in the first-ever Test at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.^[1] The 2010 Tri-Nations season has seen new records set by the All Blacks; they are the first team to finish undefeated since the expansion of the tournament to 9 rounds, and have seen the highest number of tries and overall points in the history of the tournament.^[2]

The series concluded 11 September 2010 with New Zealand's win over Australia 23–22.^[3] The 2011 series commenced on 23 July 2011 in Australia.^[4]

Background

New Zealand, South Africa and Australia were ranked first, second, and third in the IRB World Rankings, but this changed due to Australia's 21–20 loss to England on 16 June 2010. This game moved Australia down to fourth in the IRB World Rankings but they returned to third in rankings a week later, after France's heavy defeat to Argentina and Australia's win against Ireland in the last week of the 2010 mid-year rugby test series.

The final match of the Bledisloe Cup series between Australia and New Zealand took place after the Tri-Nations, on 30 October (the first 3 matches of the series were part of the Tri-Nations).

Standings

Fixtures

All times are local

Round 1

Touch judges:
Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Television match official:
Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

• Following the match, Bakkies Botha was handed a nine-week suspension for headbutting Jimmy Cowan in the first minute of the match, an offence missed by referee Alan Lewis. The suspension sidelined Botha for the remainder of the Tri Nations.^[5]

Round 2

Touch judges:
Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Television match official:
Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

• During this match the All Blacks became the highest point scorers in international rugby, passing France.^[6]
• Following the match, Jean de Villiers was handed a two-week suspension for a lifting tackle against Rene Ranger. De Villiers' previously good disciplinary record was cited as a mitigating factor with regard to the length of suspension. The suspension sidelined de Villiers for the Springboks' next match against Australia.^[7]

Round 3

• Following the match, two players, one from each team, were handed suspensions:^[8]
  • Jaque Fourie was suspended for four weeks for a spear tackle of Richard Brown. He will miss the Springboks' next Test against the All Blacks.
  • Quade Cooper was suspended for two weeks for a spear tackle of Morné Steyn. As in the case of Jean de Villiers last week, Cooper's previously good disciplinary history was cited as a mitigating factor. The Australian Rugby Union appealed the length of the ban, presumably because the suspensions of Fourie and de Villiers kept them out of only one Test, but was denied.^[9] Cooper was sidelined for the first two Bledisloe Cup Tests in Melbourne and Christchurch.

Round 4

• Following the match, IRB referee chief Paddy O'Brien announced that Cobus Wessels would be dropped as a touch judge for the upcoming New Zealand–Australia Test because of a number of key errors, most notably Wessels' recommendation that Wallabies wing Drew Mitchell receive the first of his two yellow cards for what O'Brien deemed a marginal penalty. As a result, the IRB made a one-off exception to its standard policy of requiring neutral touch judges and referees for international matches, assigning New Zealander Keith Brown to take Wessels' place.^[10]

Round 5

Round 6

• Springboks captain John Smit became the second Springbok to earn 100 Test caps, after Percy Montgomery.
• The result of this match meant that the All Blacks took the 2010 Tri-Nations title with one match remaining,^[11][12][13] as well as the Freedom Cup.
• This game also marked the All Blacks' 1000th win in international rugby, including non-Test matches.

Round 7

• For the second straight week, a Springbok earned his 100th Test cap, with Victor Matfield reaching this milestone.^[14]

Round 8

• This was the Wallabies' first win on the Highveld since 1963.^[15]
• John Smit earned his 102nd Test cap, equalling the South Africa record of Percy Montgomery.
• Morné Steyn extended his personal streak of successful kicks at goal in Tests to 38. Statistics on success rates of goal kickers were not kept until the late 1980s, but it is very likely that Steyn has set an all-time record. Steyn surpassed the previous (recorded) best of Scotland's Chris Paterson at 36.^[16]

Round 9

Source: Tri Nations Web^[17]

• This test was a milestone for Richie McCaw, who surpassed Sean Fitzpatrick as the most-capped New Zealand captain.^[18]
• The win is the 10th win in a row for New Zealand over Australia, a new record.^[2]
• New Zealand are the first team in the Tri Nations series to win undefeated since 2003, and set records for the most points (184) and tries scored (22).^[2]

Player statistics

Leading try scorers

Source: scrum.com

Leading point scorers

Source: scrum.com

See also

• History of rugby union matches between Australia and South Africa
• History of rugby union matches between Australia and New Zealand
• History of rugby union matches between New Zealand and South Africa

References

1. ^ "South Africa 22–29 New Zealand". RTE Sport. 21 August 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
2. ^ "Magic McCaw adds more milestones with All Blacks". Stuff NZ. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
3. ^ "New Zealand 32–12 South Africa". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 July 2010. Archived 30 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
4. ^ "SANZAR release the draw for the shortened 2011 Tri Nations tournament". Fox News. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
5. ^ "Bakkies Botha handed nine-week suspension for headbutt". BBC Sport. 11 July 2010. Archived 11 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
6. ^ "All Blacks close in on pointscoring record". stuff.co.nz. 18 July 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
7. ^ "Springbok Jean de Villiers banned for dangerous tackle". BBC Sport. 18 July 2010. Archived 21 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
8. ^ "South Africa centre Jaque Fourie handed four-week ban". BBC Sport. 25 July 2010. Archived 25 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
9. ^ "Australia lose appeal against Quade Cooper suspension". BBC Sport. 28 July 2010. Archived 29 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
10. ^ "Linesman dropped for Mitchell yellow card call". The Independent. Reuters. 4 August 2010. Archived 9 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
11. ^ "New Zealand clinch Tri-Nations title – Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source". Mg.co.za. 21 August 2010. Archived 24 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
12. ^ Long, David. "All Blacks claim Tri-Nations in Soweto". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
13. ^ "South Africa 22–29 New Zealand". BBC Sport. 21 August 2010. Archived 23 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
14. ^ "South Africa 44–31 Australia". BBC Sport. 28 August 2010. Archived 28 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
15. ^ "Wallabies cling on to win a classic". ESPNScrum. 4 September 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
16. ^ Griffiths, John (13 September 2010). "Morné Steyn's goal-kicking record, Tri-Nations clean-sweeps, Scottish captains and Shane Sullivan". Ask John. ESPNScrum. Archived 30 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
17. ^ trinationsweb. "2010 TriNations fixtures". Tri Nations. Archived from the original on 19 February 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
18. ^ "Richierecord". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 July 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.

External links

• All Blacks Tri Nations website
• Wallabies Tri Nations website