World Cup-winning coach Jake White has hailed the decision to invite Argentina to join an expanded Tri-Nations competition from 2012.

SANZAR, the body that governs the three teams involved in the competition - Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - revealed on Monday that the South American nation had been handed an invitation to join them in a new Four Nations championship.

White, whose South Africa side beat Argentina in the semi-finals on their way to the 2007 title, told Business Day: "It is fantastic. After the World Cup Argentina were begging to be accepted somewhere, and now they have."

He added: "Everyone was raving about how well they did. So it is good to see that SANZAR has gone out of their way to include them, especially since the Tri-Nations is a settled competition and functions well."

Fears have been raised about the long journey to South America, but White insists it will not be a problem, especially for the Springboks.

He said: "We have always had to travel further than Australia and New Zealand, so I think we would be able to handle it better."

The inclusion of Argentina comes with some conditions, though, the most notable being SANZAR stressing that they must field their best players.

Most of them currently play for European clubs and any involvement in the new championship could lead to a possible club-versus-country row due to the similar timing of the northern hemisphere season.

To assist with this, the three unions will "actively work" with Argentina to place their best players in the Super 15 provincial competition - the southern hemisphere tournament which will be expanded from the current Super 14 format.

SANZAR will also need to agree a financial model and secure support from broadcasters.