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]
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.
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]
Man of the Match: Brodie Retallick (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England) Luke Pearce (England) Television match official: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Notes:
Man of the Match: Aphiwe Dyantyi (South Africa)
Touch judges: Angus Gardner (Australia) Andrew Brace (Ireland) Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Man of the Match: Beauden Barrett (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) Luke Pearce (England) Television match official: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Man of the Match: Guido Petti (Argentina)
Touch judges: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand) Andrew Brace (Ireland) Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Man of the Match: TJ Perenara (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales) Nic Berry (Australia) Television match official: Rowan Kitt (England)
Man of the Match: Matt To'omua (Australia)
Touch judges: John Lacey (Ireland) Paul Williams (New Zealand) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Man of the Match: Handré Pollard (South Africa)
Touch judges: Pascal Gaüzère (France) Nic Berry (Australia) Television match official: Rowan Kitt (England)
Man of the Match: Nicolás Sánchez (Argentina)
Touch judges: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) Paul Williams (New Zealand) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Man of the Match: Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England) Matthew Carley (England) Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
Man of the Match: Ardie Savea (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Jaco Peyper (South Africa) Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa) Television match official: David Grashoff (England)
Man of the Match: Malcolm Marx (South Africa)
Touch judges: Jérôme Garcès (France) Matthew Carley (England) Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
Man of the Match: Dane Haylett-Petty (Australia)
Touch judges: Mathieu Raynal (France) Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa) Television match official: David Grashoff (England)
Note: Ages, caps and clubs/franchises are of 18 August 2018 – the starting date of the tournament
On 6 August, newly appointed head coach Mario Ledesma named a 36-man squad for the Championship.[10]
1 Ahead of the traveling to South Africa for the opening match, Tomás Lezana joined the squad after recovering from injury.[11]
2 On 9 August, Juan Figallo became the first European based player to be selected for the national side since the 2015 World Cup, after a change of selection policy under Ledesma.[12]
3 On 19 August, Santiago Álvarez, Facundo Bosch and Santiago Carreras joined the ahead of the round 2 home clash against South Africa.[13]
4 On 27 August, Gaston Cortes joined the squad for the Oceania leg of the Championship in rounds 3 and 4.[14]
5 On 19 September, Ramiro Herrera, Matías Osadczuk, Lucas Paulos and Enrique Pieretto joined were added as part of the training squad ahead of the fifth round clash with New Zealand.[15]
6 On 24 September, Manuel Montero joined the squad as injury cover for Ramiro Moyano.[16]
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
On 5 August, Michael Cheika named a 36-man extended squad ahead of the Championship.[17]
1 On 21 September, Jake Gordon and Angus Cottrell were added to the squad for the final two rounds of the Championship, with the latter replacing Lukhan Tui who withdrew from the squad for personal reasons.[18]
On 6 August 2018, Hansen named a 33-man squad ahead of the Championship.[19]
Liam Coltman and Ngani Laumape were included in the squad as injury covers for Dane Coles and Sonny Bill Williams respectively.
1 On 16 August, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, after being named in the match-day team for the opening round, was withdrawn due to injury and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen joined the squad as a precautionary injury cover.
2 On 30 August, Angus Ta'avao joined the squad as an injury replacement for Joe Moody who was ruled out of the rest of the Championship.[20]
3 On 9 September, Patrick Tuipulotu joined the squad as an injury replacement for Brodie Retallick.
On 26 May 2018, head coach Rassie Erasmus named the following 35-man squad for South Africa's Rugby Championship campaign:[21]
Cyle Brink withdrew from the squad on 16 August 2018 after sustaining a knee injury in training. He was not replaced.[22]
1 On 31 August, Schalk Brits, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe were added to the squad ahead of the Australasian leg of the Championship in rounds 3 and 4.[23]
2 On 23 September, Vincent Koch, Ruhan Nel and S'busiso Nkosi were added to the squad ahead of round 5 and 6.[24]
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