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 bySANZAAR, a joint venture of the four countries' national unions. The tournament schedule was similar to that of the 2015 edition, being shortened due to the World Cup. New Zealand was the three-time back-to-back defending champions entering this years Championship. However, South Africa claimed their fourth title, their first since the inception of the Rugby Championship and their first Southern Hemisphere title since 2009. They became the third team to claim the expanded Southern Hemisphere championship, following New Zealand and Australia.
Background
The tournament is operated by SANZAAR and known for sponsorship reasons as The Castle Rugby Championship in South Africa, The Investec Rugby Championship in New Zealand, The Mitsubishi Estate Rugby Championship in Australia, and The Personal Rugby Championship in Argentina.
Format
Because of the 2019 World Cup, the tournament schedule was reduced, as it was in 2015, to each team playing each other once. Australia and Argentina each played two home matches out of the three matches to be played in total. New Zealand and South Africa had one home fixture. As usual, a win earned a team four league points, a draw two league points, and a loss by eight or more points zero league points. A bonus point was earned in one of two ways: by scoring at least three tries more than the opponent in a match, or by losing within seven points. The competition winner was the side with the most points at the end of the tournament.
Other Cups
Because the Bledisloe Cup is decided in two home-and-away legs, after the end of the shortened Rugby Championship, New Zealand and Australia played for the Bledisloe Cup decider at Eden Park, Auckland, with Australia leading the series 1-0. New Zealand retained the Cup for the 17th consecutive year with a comprehensive 36-0 win, concluding in a 1-1 series result.
Australia's 47 points was their record score against New Zealand, surpassing the 35 points scored in 2000.
The All Blacks' 21-point defeat equalled their record loss, set in 1999 against Australia.
New Zealand finished third in the table for the first time since the 2004 Tri Nations, and the first time since The Rugby Championship's inception.
Scott Barrett became the fourth New Zealand player to be sent off in an international match, and the first since Sonny Bill Williams against the British and Irish Lions in 2017. Barrett was also the first player to be dismissed in a Bledisloe Cup match since Drew Mitchell in 2010.
This was South Africa's biggest winning margin over Argentina in Argentina.
Handré Pollard's tally of 31 points set a new record for a single player in a Rugby Championship match. It equalled Morné Steyn's Tri Nations record, set against New Zealand in 2009.
Statistics
Points scorers
Try scorers
Squads
Summary
Note: Ages, caps and clubs/franchises are of 20 July 2019 – the starting date of the tournament
Argentina
On 46-man extended squad for the 2019 Rugby Championship and in preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
