| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2000 |
| Number of teams | 2 |
| Country |  Australia  South Africa |
| Holders | South Africa (2023) |
| Most titles | Australia (13 titles) |
The Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate is a rugby union trophy contested between Australia and South Africa. It is named after South Africa's first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela.
Initially designed to be held every two years, the trophy was first contested as a one-off match in 2000, with Australia winning the game 44-23 at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium. The second, played in Ellis Park, Johannesburg in 2002, was also South Africa's home game in the Tri Nations, and was won 33–31 by South Africa. The 2004 event, delayed until 2005, was played over two legs, and was not part of the Tri Nations. Since South Africa were the holders, Australia needed to win both games to reclaim the trophy. Australia won the first game 30–12, but lost the return leg at Ellis Park, 33–20.
Between 2006 and 2011, with the expansion of the Tri Nations series so that each country plays each other three times, the plate was contested over three Tests, akin to the Bledisloe Cup, with the exception of 2007 and 2011, when teams only played 4 games each, to accommodate for the Rugby World Cups in those years. In 2012, the Tri Nations was expanded to include Argentina and the competition was renamed The Rugby Championship. The teams now play each other twice, and the challengers are required to beat the holders in both games to win the plate. [1]
The trophy is a leather-clad silver plate containing a 24 carat (100%) rim, and a central gold disk showing a Wallaby and a Springbok (the icons of the two teams). [2] It was designed by Flynn Silver, an Australian family company from Kyneton, Victoria.
| Details | P | Australia | South Africa | D | Australia points | South Africa points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 21 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 545 | 392 |
| South Africa | 18 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 328 | 534 |
| Overall | 39 | 20 | 17 | 2 | 873 | 926 |
Source: [3]
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The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a similar tournament in the Northern Hemisphere.
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This is a list of events in South African sport in 2005.
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The first clash in Rugby Union between Australia and New Zealand took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3.
The contest between The Wallabies and The Springboks is one of the major rivalries in rugby union.
The Australian Provincial Championship, or APC, is a now-defunct rugby union football competition played in Australia. It was one of several provincial competitions since the late 1960s, including the Wallaby Trophy and Ricoh National Championship, that have not continued.
The 2013 Rugby Championship, known as The Castle Rugby Championship in South Africa, The Investec Rugby Championship in New Zealand, The Castrol Edge Rugby Championship in Australia and The Personal Rugby Championship in Argentina for sponsorship reasons, was the second edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere championship consisting of Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. New Zealand as the 2012 holders, was trying to keep their 100% winning record in the championship after winning six from six in 2012.
The History of the South Africa national rugby union team dates back to 1891, when the British Lions first toured South Africa where they played against South African representative sides. The South Africa national rugby union team played few international matches during a period of international sanctions due to apartheid. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has once again fully participated in international rugby.
The 2019 Rugby Championship was the eighth edition of the annual southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The competition is operated by SANZAAR, a joint venture of the four countries' national unions.
The 2020 Tri Nations Series was the seventeenth edition of the annual southern hemisphere competition, involving Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. On 16 October 2020, 2019 Rugby Championship winners and 2019 Rugby World Cup champions South Africa confirmed their withdrawal from the originally planned 2020 Rugby Championship due to South African government travel restrictions, player welfare and safety concerns related to COVID-19. This meant that the competition temporarily returned to its previous Tri-Nations format - played across six weekends with each team playing each other twice.
