The 2009 Tri Nations Series was the fourteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

teams of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, Australia and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks. The Springboks secured the season crown in their final match on 12 September, defeating the defending series champion All Blacks 32–29 in Hamilton.

Background

New Zealand, South Africa and Australia were ranked first, second, and third in the world respectively by the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

(IRB) immediately before the start of the Tri Nations on 30 June 2009. For

, the tournament comes on the back of the British & Irish Lions tour.

Tri-Nations 2009

On 18 July, the All Blacks drew first blood in the series, coming from behind to defeat the Wallabies 22–16 at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount E ...

. The All Blacks then departed for a two-test series against the Springboks in South Africa. The Boks won the first test 28–19, a result that not only gave them the series lead but also put them ahead of the All Blacks for first place in the

IRB World Rankings The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nation ...

. The following week, they defeated the All Blacks again, with

Morné Steyn Morné Steyn (born 11 July 1984) is a South African rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for the Bulls and played for the South Africa national team, up until his retirement from international test rugby in October 2021. Steyn has won an ...

scoring all of their points in a 31–19 win. Steyn's performance broke the previous mark of New Zealand's

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national t ...

for individual points in a Tri Nations match. The Boks completed their home leg with a 29–17 win over the Wallabies in Cape Town, with Steyn scoring 24 of their points. The series then travelled to Australia for the Wallabies' three home matches. It opened with the second Bledisloe Cup match with the All Blacks, won by the All Blacks 19–18. The Springboks then picked up a 32–25 bonus-point win over the Wallabies in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

. The Wallabies then defeated the Springboks 21–6, at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. The Springboks had to wait another week to try grasp the Tri-Nations title, but had to face the All Blacks at home in Hamilton. The Boks claimed the Tri Nations crown for the first time since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

with a 32–29 win. In the final match of the series on 19 September, the All Blacks thumped the Wallabies 33–6 in Wellington. The final match of the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

series between Australia and New Zealand took place after the Tri-Nations, on 11 October (the first 3 matches of the series were part of the Tri-Nations).

Standings

Fixtures

New Zealand vs. Australia

Notes: * George Smith (Australia) won his 100th test cap, the 10th player to reach that milestone.

South Africa vs. New Zealand

Notes: * Morné Steyn's 31 points set a new individual record for points in a Tri Nations match, breaking

' previous mark of 29 for the All Blacks against Australia at

in 1999 as well as the most points scored by an individual in a game against the All Blacks. It is also an all-time Test record for most points by a player who was responsible for all of his team's scoring.

South Africa vs. Australia

----

Australia vs. New Zealand

Australia vs. South Africa

New Zealand vs. South Africa

Notes: *

became the highest individual point scorer in a Tri-Nations season with 95 points this season alone. *

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

's first penalty made him the leading point scorer in Tri Nations history, surpassing former All Black

. Carter entered the match with 326 Tri Nations points to Mehrtens' 328, and ended the evening with 345.

New Zealand vs. Australia

Notes: *

surpassed

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara ( ga, Rónán Ó Gadhra; born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's second most-capped player and highest ever points scorer. He is currently ...

as the 5th highest point scorer with 930 points

References

External links

All Blacks Tri Nations website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tri Nations

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2009 in South African rugby union 2009 in New Zealand rugby union 2009 in Australian rugby union

Tri * Tri- is a numerical prefix meaning three. Tri or TRI may also refer to: Places * Tri-Cities Regional Airport, Tennessee, US, IATA code TRI * Triangulum constellation, astronomical abbreviation Tri People *Tri, Former nickname for wrestler Trip ...