SARU announces Castle Rugby Championship

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) today announced that Argentina will join South Africa, New Zealand and Australia in a new competition called The Rugby Championship.

The South African-leg will be sponsored by South African Breweries (SAB) and will be known as the Castle Rugby Championship.

The new four-nations competition replaces the Tri-Nations played between SANZAR nations South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

The new-look tournament has been given a new name and a new fixture line-up with two Tests on each match day. Each participant plays home and away matches against each of the other three participants.

The Boks open their inaugural Castle Rugby Championship campaign against the Pumas in South Africa on August 18 before taking part in the first Castle Rugby Championship match on the South American continent a week later. The match venues will be announced in due course.

The Springboks travel east at the beginning of September as they undertake back-to-back matches against Australia and New Zealand before concluding The Castle Rugby Championship with home matches against the Wallabies (September 29) and All Blacks (October 6).

SANZAR has confirmed the draw for the inaugural edition of The Rugby Championship in 2012, which sees each side facing the other twice – home and away – for a total of 12 matches.

The 2012 Championship will kick-off on 18 August 2012 and conclude on 6 October 2012.

“Adding another country will have an impact on the travel schedules,” Greg Peters, SANZAR CEO said.

“To balance the additional travel requirements, the fixtures have been scheduled in two-week blocks with week-long travel byes in-between. This will ensure there is adequate recovery time for the teams,” he added.

The Rugby Championship fixtures

18 August 2012: Australia vs New Zealand

18 August 2012: South Africa vs Argentina

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25 August 2012: New Zealand vs Australia

25 August 2012: Argentina vs South Africa

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1 September 2012: Travel Bye

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8 September 2012: Australia vs South Africa

8 september 2012: New Zealand vs Argentina

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15 September 2012: Australia vs Argentina

15 september 2012: New Zealand vs South Africa

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22 September 2012: Travel Bye

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29 September 2012: South Africa vs Australia

29 September 2012: Argentina vs New Zealand

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6 October 2012: South Africa vs New Zealand

6 October 2012: Argentina vs Australia

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