the tri nations, now known as the rugby championship, is an annual competition involving the strongest rugby nations from the southern hemisphere. when the competition was established in 1996, it featured new zealand, australia and south africa. originally, this involved each country playing one home and one away game against both other countries. from 2006 the competition was expanded with each nation playing both the other nations three times (except in rugby world cup years, when it reverted to a home-and-away series). the all blacks won the first series in 1996, as well as the subsequent 1997 series. they have been the most dominant team in the series; during the tri nations era (1996–2011), they won 10 titles to the springboks' three and the wallabies' two.