What's in it for the Argies?
SANZAR has offered Argentina a conditional place in the Tri Nations in 2012. rugby365 columnist Keith Moore takes a look at what a place in the Tri-Nations will mean for the South Americans.
Currently, Argentina have no annual tournament in which they participate, and previous talks from the South Americans had seen them attempt to join the Six Nations, playing their home games from Spain - but their campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.
One of the conditions of their participation in the Tri-Nations is that Argentina secure the services of their best players for the tournament, and SANZAR has proposed to aid them by placing Argentinian players in the Super 14 teams.
The offer extended to Argentina to join the Tri Nations in 2012 represents an exciting time for Argentinian rugby and great news for the depth of world rugby. The Pumas have been impressive in their recent World Cup showings, which is significant for them as that is the only tournament in which they currently participate. The passion with which they play the game will also add untold drama to the southern hemisphere tournament. The growth of rugby in the region will be telling, and in a few tournaments' time they will shed their fairytale-story tag and become serious contenders for the trophy. Playing against the Southern Hemisphere giants will also expose the players to nations rich in rugby culture and built on excellent international records.
It is significant for the Pumas that they will be joining the Tri-Nations tournament rather than the Six Nations.
Firstly, they have never beaten the Springboks or the All Blacks, and annual meetings against those countries will give the Argentinians a genuine chance to rectify that. Also, the Tri-Nations tournament represents a higher level of rugby, and again, continuous exposure to such rugby will give them a chance to stake their claim as heavyweights of the rugby world. They came third at the last World Cup, and were ranked third in the world at one point, but they have never been given the chance to gain any momentum on the world stage.
Playing against the three top teams in the world will help Argentina become one of the best teams in the world in time. Whilst today they are able to hold their own against most sides in the top flight of rugby, a few years in the highest-calibre tournament in world rugby will groom them into the same mould as their Southern Hemisphere brothers. It is an ominous sign for the rest of world rugby, who already struggle to keep up with the current Tri-Nations teams.
In order to see what kind of company the Argentinians will be keeping, you only need to look at the significant dominance that the current Tri-Nations teams have held over their Northern Hemisphere counterparts in recent times. As is tradition, in November of this year the three unions will be heading for European shores to take on in the Autumn Internationals. The Six Nations sides hosting respective Tri-Nations counterparts will have a lot to answer for, as the recent track record of internationals between the hemispheres has been alarmingly one-sided.
Taking results since November 20, 2006, matches between the two sides of the equator has led to a landslide of victories in favour of the Southern Hemisphere sides. Since that date, 44 internationals between a Six Nations side and a Tri-Nations side have taken place. Of those 44, the French beat the All Blacks twice, and the Wallabies lost to England and Wales respectively. The Springboks didn't lose any of their 13 fixtures against the Northern Hemisphere nations in that time, giving the Northern Hemisphere a grand total of 4 victories out of the 44 fixtures over a period of three years.
Those statistics are pleasing for the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies, but they give a very raw indication of how far the rest of the world is lagging behind the three. And it is not just in recent times that the gap has been evident; history hardly casts a kinder light on the 6 Nations competitors against the 'Big Three' overall. Since the inception of the Home Nations Championship in 1883, Wales have had the second best showing in the tournaments behind England. In 126 years they have amassed 24 outright tournament wins, 11 shared tournament wins, 10 Grand Slams and 19 Triple Crowns. In comparison, in a little over 100 years, the Welsh have beaten the Wallabies 10 times, the All Blacks three times, and the Springboks just once. The Welsh have essentially had more success whitewashing their UK counterparts than they have had in combined solitary wins against the three Tri Nations sides.
Though Australia have a sterling record against the Six Nations sides (they have a win rate of over 50 percent against all six ), they represent the 'weakest' of the Tri-Nations sides against their Northern Hemisphere cousins. To illustrate the dominance of the Kiwis and South Africans, if you take Australia and the best two Northern Hemisphere sides (England and France) out of the equation, there is a gaping hole separating the remainder of the teams. Combined, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales have played 68 internationals against the Boks and won 8. Worse, in 83 games against the All Blacks, the 4 have chalked up three victories (all were from Wales - the Irish and Scots join the Italians as nations that have never beaten New Zealand).
Surprisingly, Scotland, who have a total of 22 Championship wins (14 outright, 8 shared), have beaten the Wallabies only seven times, the Boks just four and have never beaten the All Blacks, giving them 11 total victories over the Tri Nations sides (an average of just over 1 win per decade). Ireland have the same amount of combined victories against the Big Three: eight over the Aussies and three against the Springboks. Italy bring up the rear as the only Six Nations country to have no victories against all three.
All of these statistics point to Argentina getting the best possible education on offer in rugby. They will be plying their trade against the best of the best, and that will lead to big things for the South Americans. With any luck, the IRB will be focussing on making sure that there are other countries that are helped to develop and are able to compete with the heavyweights of world rugby. It would be a boost for the game worldwide if 10 teams could arrive at a world cup with realistic hopes of taking the trophy home.
Either way, whilst it is cause for much celebration for the fans of the Tri Nations teams, and is indicative of hard work and a wealth of talent on their part, the rest of the rugby world will have to find a way to rectify the current landslide of victories against them by these three.
If they do, it can only mean good things for the game.
By Keith Moore