No room for southern comfort

All three sides are desperate for Tri-Nations glory

When the three southern hemisphere superpowers collide in this season's Tri-Nations the impact will reverberate around the globe.

The competition, since its inception in 1996, has provided a gauge as to where rugby's powerbase lies such has been the domination of teams from below the equator on the world stage.

Northern hemisphere eyes will be fixed on the tournament to assess where they stand in the scheme of things and decide how they will counter the threat of the trio who all play in Europe in the autumn.

But that is in the future, the question now is whether Australia, reigning world champions, can finally lay their hands on the one trophy that has eluded their grasp.

Latham's battle with Cullen will be riveting

Standing in their way are two sides desperate to re-establish themselves on the international stage.

New Zealand's dramatic defeat in the World Cup semi-final sent the rugby-mad nation into a state of mourning and the gloom over the country has only just started to lift.

The Springboks will look for revenge for their semi-final exit at the hands of the Wallabies and their hammering in the Mandela Cup.

The mouth-watering prospect of Australian full-back sensation Chris Latham facing off against the electric Christian Cullen is just one of the many match-ups which will be asides to the main feature.

Mehrtens is set to break Fox's record

Australia will seek to break their record of consecutive Test wins (10), Andrew Mehtrens will seek to overhaul Grant Fox's point-scoring record and the Wallabies will be out to break their duck on South African soil.

Australia's World Cup-winning squad has remained largely intact but the anchor of their scrum, Patricio Noriega has called time on his international career leaving the Wallabies vulnerable at scrum time.

They will lose Tim Horan and David Wilson at the end of the season and the time is near when John Eales will no longer line up for his country.

New All Black coach Wayne Smith has had a clean out, appointed a new captain and adopted a new style with promising early results.

But with due respect to Tonga and Scotland, they have yet to be tested this season. The Tri-Nations will sorely test their collective resolve.

Desire

Nick Mallett's Springboks have limped along so far this season, beating Canada and England, before losing to England and Australia.

Mallett has professed a desire for his side to play the expansive game but so far it appears beyond the realm of their ability.

The All Blacks have held a virtual mortgage on the trophy winning in 1996 and 1997 without dropping a match.

Then came their nightmare of 1998 where they failed to win a match and South Africa claimed the title before normal service was resumed last year with Taine Randell lifting the trophy.

Who raises the silverware at the end of the series, be it John Eales, Todd Blackadder or Andre Vos, will be determined by which side can raise themselves above the post-World Cup fallout.

But whoever it is, they can be rest assured that the northern hemisphere will be taking notice.