2000 Tri Nations Series
The 2000 Tri Nations Series was contested from 15 July to 26 August between the Australia, New Zealand and South Africa national rugby union teams. The Wallabies won the tournament for the first time after a thrilling 19–18 win in Durban.
| Final positions | |
|---|---|
| Champions | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia (1st title) |
| Bledisloe Cup | Australia |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 6 |
| Tries scored | 29 (4.83 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Mehrtens (77) |
| Most tries | Cullen (7) |
← 1999 2001 → | |
The opening game of the tournament between Australia and New Zealand attracted a world record rugby union crowd of 109,874 to the Sydney Olympic Stadium.
Australia made it 3 wins in a row in the Bledisloe Cup, having taken it from New Zealand in 1998. (They also won the first ever Mandela Challenge Plate in a one-off home test against South Africa on 8 July, but that was a week before the Tri-Nations began.)
Table
| Nation | Games | Points | Bonus points |
Table points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| played | won | drawn | lost | for | against | difference | |||
| Australia | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 104 | 86 | +18 | 2 | 14 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 127 | 117 | +10 | 4 | 12 |
| South Africa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 82 | 110 | −28 | 2 | 6 |
Results
- Half time scores are in brackets
15 July 2000 20:00 AEST (UTC+10) |
| Australia |
35–39 (24–24) |
 New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Stirling Mortlock (2), Chris Latham, Joe Roff, Jeremy Paul Cons: Stirling Mortlock (2) Pens: Stirling Mortlock (2) |
Tries: Tana Umaga, Pita Alatini, Christian Cullen, Justin Marshall, Jonah Lomu Cons: Andrew Mehrtens (4) Pens: Andrew Mehrtens (2) |
22 July 2000 19:35 NZST (UTC+12) |
| New Zealand |
25–12 (19–12) |
 South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Christian Cullen (2) Pens: Andrew Mehrtens (3), Tony Brown Drops: Andrew Mehrtens |
Pens: Braam van Straaten (3) Drops: Percy Montgomery |
| 29 July 2000 | |||||||
| 20:00 AEST (UTC+10)] | |||||||
| Australia |
26–6 | South Africa |
Sydney, Australia | ||||
| (HT: 19–6) | Attendance:77,048 | Referee:  Ed Morrison (England) | |||||
| Tries: Mortlock, Paul | Penalties: van Straaten (2) | ||||||
| Conversions: Mortlock (2) | |||||||
| Penalties: Mortlock (4) | |||||||
| 5 August 2000 | |||||||
| 19:35 NZST (UTC+12) | |||||||
| New Zealand |
23–24 | Australia |
Wellington, New Zealand | ||||
| (HT: 20–18) | Attendance:36000
Referee: | ||||||
| Tries: Cullen (2) | Tries: Mortlock, Roff | ||||||
| Conversions: Mehrtens (2) | Conversions: Mortlock | ||||||
| Penalties: Mehrtens (3) | Penalties: Eales, Mortlock (3) | ||||||
| 19 August 2000 | |||||||
| 15:00 SAST (UTC+02) | |||||||
| South Africa |
46–40 | New Zealand |
Johannesburg, South Africa | ||||
| (HT: 33–27) | Referee: Andrew Cole (Australia) | ||||||
| Tries: Delport, Fleck (2), Swanepoel (2), Williams | Tries: Cullen (2), Umaga (2) | ||||||
| Conversions: van Straaten (5) | Conversions: Mehrtens (4) | ||||||
| Penalties: van Straaten (2) | Penalties: Mehrtens (3) | ||||||
| Drop Goals: Mehrtens | |||||||
| 26 August 2000 | |||||||
| 15:00 SAST (UTC+02) | |||||||
| South Africa |
18–19 | Australia |
Durban, South Africa | ||||
| (HT: 6–13) | Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand) | ||||||
| Penalties: van Straaten (6) | Tries: Latham | ||||||
| Conversions: Mortlock | |||||||
| Penalties: Mortlock (4) |
The 15 July Sydney fixture set a world record for a rugby union crowd, with 109,874 spectators filling Telstra Stadium.
| Tri Nations 2000 Winners |
|---|
|
| Australia First Title |
External links
- Tri Nations at Rugby.com.au