Sydney start: All Blacks
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New Zealand will begin their Rugby Championship title defence away to Australia when the tournament kicks off on August 17.
The first Bledisloe Cup match will take place at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, with South Africa entertaining Argentina in Bloemfontein.
The reverse fixtures will take place seven days later - with the Wallabies travelling to Wellington and the Pumas hosting the Boks to Mendoza.
That will be the first of three successive home games for the All Blacks - with Argentina taking on the World Cup winners at Waikato Stadium on September 7 before South Africa visit Eden Park.
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters said it was exciting to release the draw for the Rugby Championship as Test rugby closed out for the year.
"In 2012 we saw The Rugby Championship played for the first time, welcoming the Pumas into the fold alongside the original Tri-Nations teams, which saw the All Blacks claim inaugural success with an unbeaten charge to the title," Peters said.
"The Rugby Championship will again feature the best teams in the world. With the recent End of Year Tests yielding 10 victories for our competing rugby nations.
"The Pumas claimed a historic win in Cardiff against Six Nations champions Wales, the Springboks went through Europe unbeaten, while the All Blacks and Wallabies won three of their four Tests."
Peters said that the new dimension that Argentina brought to The Rugby Championship was evident with the fan response through the six rounds.
"A total of over 16 million viewers tuned into the twelve Tests of The Rugby Championship and an average of 44,000 attended the matches, which saw stadiums at 91% capacity, with the 88,739 crowd that saw the All Blacks come back from a half time deficit to defeat the Springboks 32-16 at FNB Stadium in Soweto the most attended match of the season," Peters said.
"The first round of action, with the Wallabies playing the All Blacks in Sydney, and the Springboks hosting the Pumas in Bloemfontein, will have added spice considering the last time each of these two nations played - the result was an 18-18 and 16-16 draw respectively.
"We are also pleased to announce that the format for 2013 will be consistent with the recent season to enable Unions and fans to have certainty on which weekends matches will be played in their territories."
2013 Rugby Championship fixtures
August 17: Australia v New Zealand, ANZ Stadium, Sydney. South Africa v Argentina, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein.
August 24: New Zealand v Australia, Westpac Stadium, Wellington. Argentina v South Africa, Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza.
September 7: Australia v South Africa, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. New Zealand v Argentina, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton.
September 14: Australia v Argentina, Patersons Stadium, Perth. New Zealand v South Africa, Eden Park, Auckland.
September 28: South Africa v Australia, Newlands Stadium, Cape Town. Argentina v New Zealand, Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata.
October 5: South Africa v New Zealand, Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg. Argentina v Australia, Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario.
Comments
BokAvenger says...
@Melkiwi You know it makes sense!
Posted 15:59 16th January 2013
carpelone says...
Trinats, isolation do you Aussies no favour. Have you heard about sense of humour?
First days of the year are there for wishful thinking.
Now my prediction is Boks to win the RC and losing to Australia, just to help Dingo retaining his job.
Posted 13:45 16th January 2013
Melkiwi says...
@bokavenger wow, the things you come up with are just amazing and I have a feeling that you yourself even believe your delusional theories.
Posted 12:07 16th January 2013
BokAvenger says...
@Melkiwi: it is precisely those events you outline that made the IRB realise it needed to protect it's precious marketing gimmick to protect sponsorships of the World Cup etc. They could never allow NZ to choke at yet another World Cup, particularly one in their own backyard, hence the 2011 RWC (rigged world cup) was engineered to ensure a NZ victory. When video evidence showed that officials had ignored blatant indiscretions from NZ in the final, and that a touch judge awarded Donald's penalty kick when it had in fact missed, the IRB made sure that NZ were virtually unbeatable in 2012. That way people would stop questioning why they'd been allowed to win the 2011 RWC final, even after being comprehensively outplayed by France. To create the illusion of competition, they permitted England to win that one game at Twickenham as spectators and sponsors were becoming jaded with a sport dominated by one team i.e Team IRB aka The All Blacks
Posted 11:45 16th January 2013
Melkiwi says...
@bokavenger oh god. If you theories are right then what happen during the all blacks England match? Shouldn't the IRB's all black have won that? How about 09's poor showing during the tri nations? 2011 tri nations? 07 World Cup? 2003 World Cup? 1999, 1995, 1991? If the abs where protected by the IRB shouldn't they have won? From what I remember of last years championship both times the boks should have one but bad kick in the first game and bad defence in the second cost them the game. All blacks are good because unlike most countries the main focus is around ensure the all blacks have the best players, best coaches and facilities, zero politics like SA. And a great rugby history
Posted 08:16 16th January 2013
BokAvenger says...
Yes, dismiss my insightful analysis as conspiracy theories. I remember hearing the same thing about Lance Armstrong.
Posted 06:09 16th January 2013
ABlack says...
All Blacks to win V2 of the Rugby Championships, Aussie 2nd, Boks and Argies toss up for 3rd
Posted 01:01 16th January 2013
LeftRightOut says...
@BokAWhinger - "Not sure why we're bothering with this rigged tournament again". I am not sure why YOU are bothering with the tournament then. Perhaps you would like to take the season off and come back in a year or so? If you have already resigned yourself to believing your own conspiracy theories before the first whistle of the season, then your comments will never be well received in here. Get a grip, man
Posted 22:12 15th January 2013
trinats2 says...
Capedcrusader:
"When was the last time Oz won a trophy"
The cook cup, that's when we beat England, Aus undefeated since 2012 !!! when was the last time you won? Or last time we fielded a full 15, won the tri nations 2011 !!!Lol just stirring, give me my time in the sun ! It doesn't happen often!
carpelone:
"it will be a clean sweep for the Boks." "correlated to reality"
Here's a new year resolution (not sure i could keep to it, it's a tough one !!!!)- Try not to laugh at Saffas too much,
Posted 21:39 15th January 2013
Melkiwi says...
@bokavenger this was funny at first but now it's getting a bit old mate. No one really wants to hear your lame theories. Thank god not all saffas are as thick as you.
Posted 21:35 15th January 2013
Ripzy007 says...
I wonder if BAV was ever a rugby player or a referee or anything rugby related? just saying
Posted 20:43 15th January 2013
ben7 says...
@trinats2
SA had more injuries than aus. they were missing their first choice 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 12 for most of the tournament.
Posted 20:33 15th January 2013
carpelone says...
@ daibok
Amen
Posted 20:03 15th January 2013
jmanngod says...
Expect the ABs to continue on from 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009...... etc etc etc. Mostly jus looking forward to smashing the poms and sending them quiet for the next decade.
Posted 19:24 15th January 2013
daibok says...
@Carpelone. Georgesmith has lost his purpose in life now that Sharpe has retired. Our thoughts are with him.
Posted 16:38 15th January 2013
carpelone says...
Where the hell is Georgesmith?
With M Steyn heading to France, it will be a clean sweep for the Boks.
Trinats. No new year resolutions mate? Such as My posts should be slightly correlated to reality. Why not, for a change...
Posted 15:25 15th January 2013
piriaka says...
Sound like a bit of a whinger, BokAvenger?? What's the prob??
Posted 13:48 15th January 2013
BokAvenger says...
Almost every NZ win is tainted by biased refereeing. Witness how NZ are allowed a mandatory 5 forward passes per game by the refs. They get away with cheap shots and punches on the ground, jersey tugging, blatant offside play, playing the ball on the floor, skew throw ins and feeds at line outs and scrums. Need I go on? It's as if the officials are too scared to ping them for their indiscretions. That can only happen if you're under instructions from up high. Even Bryce Lawrence admitted that "powerful" people had influenced him before that quarterfinal between SA and Oz. What more proof do you need that officiating is rotten to the core?
Posted 13:14 15th January 2013
Capedcrusader says...
Ha ha Trinads
It's trophies that count that's why these tournaments are played. When was the last time Oz won a trophy and how many have you got??????
Posted 12:57 15th January 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
Boks should be sliding down the rankings.
Re Oz. wonder if Deans will come out with his "one eye on the bledisloe cup" comment he made before his first AB game last year! That was my quote of the year! However Oz are the only ones that can realistically hope to beat them to first in the tournament in 2013
Posted 12:57 15th January 2013