A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Date | 18 August 2018 – 6 October 2018 |
|---|---|
| Countries |  Argentina Australia New Zealand South Africa |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | New Zealand (16th title) |
| Bledisloe Cup | New Zealand |
| Freedom Cup | New Zealand |
| Mandela Challenge Plate | Australia |
| Puma Trophy | Australia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 12 |
| Tries scored | 88 (7.33 per match) |
| Attendance | 433,657 (36,138 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Nicolás Sánchez (67) |
| Most tries | Beauden Barrett (5) Aphiwe Dyantyi (5) Rieko Ioane (5) |
← 2017 2019 → | |
The 2018 Rugby Championship was the seventh edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The competition is operated by SANZAAR, a joint venture of the four countries' national unions.
The tournament continued to use the same sequence of games across the schedule, starting on 18 August with Australia hosting reigning champions New Zealand and South Africa hosting Argentina, and ending after eight weeks (six rounds and two bye weeks) on 6 October when New Zealand visited South Africa and Australia played in Argentina.
New Zealand won the Championship for the sixth time after a 35-17 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires on 29 September.[1][2]
Background
The tournament is operated by SANZAAR and known for sponsorship reasons as The Castle Rugby Championship in South Africa, The Investec Rugby Championship in New Zealand, The Mitsubishi Estate Rugby Championship in Australia, and The Personal Rugby Championship in Argentina.
Format
The format for the 2018 tournament retained the previous Championship format that changed in 2017. Each side played the other once at home, and once away, giving a total of six matches each, and twelve in total. A win earned a team four league points, a draw two league points, and a loss by eight or more points zero league points. A bonus point was earned in one of two ways: by scoring at least three tries more than the opponent in a match, or by losing within seven points. The competition winner was the side with the most points at the end of the tournament.[3]
Table
| Place | Nation | Games | Points[4] | Try Bonus |
Losing Bonus |
Table points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | |||||
| 1 | New Zealand |
6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 225 | 132 | +93 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | South Africa |
6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 160 | 154 | +6 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| 3 | Australia |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 124 | 176 | −52 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 4 | Argentina |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 151 | 198 | −47 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Results
Round 1
| 18 August 2018 19:45 AEST (UTC+10) |
| Australia | 13–38 | New Zealand (1 BP) |
| Try: Maddocks 66' c Con: Foley (1/1) 66' Pen: Hodge (1/1) 9' Foley (1/1) 20' | Report | Try: A. Smith 38' m Goodhue 42' c B. Barrett 51' c Retallick 62' c Naholo (2) 73' m, 74' c Con: B. Barrett (4/6) 43', 52', 64', 76' |
| Stadium Australia, Sydney Attendance: 66,318 Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) |
|
Man of the Match:
Touch judges:
|
Notes:
- Jermaine Ainsley and Jack Maddocks (both Australia) and Tim Perry (New Zealand) made their international debuts.[5]
- Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) became the eighth and youngest ever All Black to earn his 100th test cap.[6]
| 18 August 2018 17:05 SAST (UTC+02) |
| (1 BP) South Africa | 34–21 | Argentina |
| Try: Am 7' m Dyantyi (2) 31' m, 41' c Mapimpi (2) 48' m, 52' m De Klerk 69' c Con: Pollard (2/6) 43', 70' | Report | Try: Sanchez 14' c Matera 26' c Moroni 66' c Con: Sanchez (3/3) 15', 28', 66' |
| Kings Park Stadium, Durban Attendance: 26,800 Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand) |
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