SANZAR

SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) is the body which operates Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. It is a joint venture of the South African Rugby Union, the New Zealand Rugby Union and the Australian Rugby Union, formed in 1996.

Created shortly after rugby's move to professionalism in 1995, SANZAR's two products were the Super 12 (now Super Rugby) and the Tri Nations (now The Rugby Championship). This concept was developed by Queensland Rugby Union CEO Terry Doyle, NSW CEO David Moffett and Australian Rugby Union CEO Bruce Hayman. To fund the competition SANZAR looked to News Limited, eventually being offered $555 million over 10 years for worldwide television rights. Rian Oberholzer was the first CEO of SANZAR.

SANZAR meets annually and is composed of the three CEOs from its member unions. In 2007 it has been criticised as powerless due to its inability to stop New Zealand removing its top 22 players from the Super 14 competition and inability to stop South Africa from removing players from the Tri-Nations.

Argentina officially joined the Rugby Championship in a meeting in Buenos Aires on 23 November 2011