in 1987, the nzrfu wrote to the international rugby football board, later known as the international rugby board (irb) and now as world rugby, requesting the possibility of hosting an inaugural rugby world cup. the 1987 world cup was eventually given to both new zealand and australia. the all blacks made it to the final, where they would meet france. the all blacks won and were crowned the first ever world champions. in the 1980s, new zealand provincial sides participated in the south pacific championship, along with teams from australia and fiji. in 1992 this type of competition was relaunched as the super sixes, and was expanded to the super 10 later. as rugby entered the professional era in the mid-1990s, along with south africa and australia, new zealand formed sanzar, which would see them start a provincial rugby competition, the super 12. the 1996 super 12 season saw the auckland blues finish in second place, whilst the waikato chiefs 6th, the otago highlanders 8th, the wellington hurricanes 9th, and the canterbury crusaders 12th. the sanzar agreement also saw the formation of the tri nations series, a contest between the respective national sides, the all blacks, springboks and wallabies. the all blacks won the first series. beginning in 2012, the argentina pumas entered the competition, which was renamed the rugby championship. new zealand was supposed to jointly host the 2003 world cup with australia, but a disagreement with the irb saw the tournament given to australia in its entirety. in 2006, new zealand won the right to host the 2011 world cup.