Fans thrilled by expansion of Tri-Nations

Snivilian

Tri-Nations
Tri-Nations changes welcomed

Posted 10th July, 2006

Fans of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have expressed their ‘utter delight’ at the new-format Tri-Nations tournament.

The 2006 competition is the first time each team will play each other three times rather than twice a season, as has usually been the case in past seasons.

‘To be honest,’ said New Zealand supporter Chris Keeffe, ‘it was getting a little stale. I saw us playing Australia twice every year and the same for South Africa. I was getting frustrated with only seeing us clash just a couple of times with our rivals. What I really wanted was the chance to see us play them a bit more. So for me this new fixture arrangement is perfect.’

Keeffe’s views were shared by his fellow fans in Australia and South Africa.

‘To think the rugby authorities could have done something really stupid like invite Argentina or a Pacific Islands team into this competition,’ said Mick Robinson from Melbourne, Australia.

‘That would have risked everything feeling a little uncertain, a little out of the ordinary. There would have been a wider range of playing styles on offer, a new set of players to learn the names of and the risk of developing another team from outside the SANZAR block. Thankfully, they did the only sensible thing: kept the pie to themselves.’

There are, however, a few fans who are not completely happy with the new fixtures. Many are disappointed with the fact each team plays an uneven number of home and away fixtures. For example, under the new system, New Zealand play two games at home in Australia.

‘I think the rugby authorities need to drastically reconsider,’ said James Truter of Cape Town, South Africa. ‘It seems odd to have a three game system as it unbalances the home and away aspect of things. We need to quickly move to a four game system. This way you can play both teams home and away twice and balance the season out. As it stands, now I can only get crazy at George Gregan three times a year instead of four times!’

At press time, the SANZAR unions denied they were planning to replace the Super 14 competition with a twenty-week Tri-Nations event in 2008. The East Terrace was unable to obtain an official statement on the matter.

http://www.theeastterrace.com/

aoa321

This is great news, I presume that the annual Mandela cup match between Australia and South Africa will continue.

The only downside that I see is that season will be longer and will have more matches so the quality might suffer a little. I suppose one way around this is for the teams to prepare better - maybe they could paly each other in a series of friendlies in the early part of the year !!

thebaz

its a boring and selfish expansion -- if you can use the word expansion .
Why keep Argentina and the Pacific Islanders out, short term greed perhaps?
In 2 or 3 years they will probably expand to playing each other 4 times, as the crowds dwindle ?
IMO real short term vision of expansion, Argentina and the Pacific islanders deserve better, than this blurred vision.

Jilm

The OP caught himself a few...

legspin

I would have to agree. The reasons for not including the Argies or the Islanders are spurious and self serving. 'Tis the same greed and lack of foresight that saw NZ getting the WC instead of Japan, even if the two situations are different.

zAbbo

Who would you add?

How many Pacific Island teams?

They already have their own 5 nations, do you add all 5, or a PI representitive team and the Puma's?

It's all down to money I suppose, and it gives the tri-nations teams more competetive games(in the short term).

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

zAbbo

The article is very tongue in cheek, but also quite believable.

Why the move to 3 games though, it won't belong before its 4 games, a two legged test for each home team.

mikedragon32

ah... Good old Eastterrace! Article are always funny there because they are plausible.

Sangre

When I first read it I thought the author had made a douzy of a mistake quoting that guy..heehe.

So is the eastterrace.com like the onion for rugby?

RuggieBear

Sangre wrote:

When I first read it I thought the author had made a douzy of a mistake quoting that guy..heehe.

So is the eastterrace.com like the onion for rugby?

indeed...altho it is only very occasionally funny