Bledisloe in the sun: RA eyes afternoon slot for Wallabies-All Blacks in Sydney

Rugby Australia is considering scheduling an afternoon Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney for the first time in almost three decades in an effort to attract families and avoid a clash with the NRL finals.

RA boss Phil Waugh confirmed the governing body is in talks with broadcast partners the Nine Network (publishers of this masthead) and Stan Sport as well as other stakeholders about a daytime kickoff for the September 21 clash against the All Blacks at Accor Stadium.

While Bledisloe Cup fixtures during the day are common in New Zealand, it would be only the third afternoon trans-Tasman kickoff in Australia in the professional era.

The Wallabies played the All Blacks in the daylight in 1996 at Lang Park – a game made famous for Michael Brial’s flurry of punches on Frank Bunce – but it was 25 years before the next one, in Perth in 2021. The Perth clash was not Rugby Australia’s first choice, however, with the Sunday afternoon game hastily arranged during the pandemic and forced by New Zealand’s controversial decision to not fly over for the original third Test scheduled a few weeks earlier.

The last daytime Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney was in 1995, when Jonah Lomu was in full flight in an All Blacks win at the SFS.

Michael Brial rains punches on New Zealand’s Frank Bunce at Lang Park. Amazingly, he stayed on the field.Credit: Reuters

The schedule change would help avoid a direct clash between the Bledisloe Cup and an NRL semi-final on the evening of September 21, and allow broadcaster Nine to put both on its main channel.

Since 1997, such clashes were not an issue given Sydney has hosted a match against New Zealand in August – a month before the NRL finals. But a re-organisation of the Rugby Championship touring schedule in 2022 has led to Bledisloe Cup Tests being played in mid to late September.

In 2022, a Bledisloe Cup game in September was shifted to a Thursday night in Melbourne to avoid a clash with AFL preliminary final at the MCG on Saturday. The sold-out Test at Marvel Stadium, which ended with an infamous time-wasting decision from referee Mathieu Raynal, was a ratings success, and opened the door for flexible thinking on scheduling.

A midweek Test in Sydney at Accor Stadium was considered but the date has been locked in as a Saturday. Waugh said no decision has been made about the kick-off time, but that the benefit of an afternoon slot was that it allowed families and young kids, who find the 8pm start prohibitive, to attend.

“The narrative I have been trying to push is the connection between the professional game and the community, and I think with the more family-friendly Test matches and professional games so that families and young kids can attend, and the more we open it up to more people, the better it is going to be,” Waugh said.

Jonah Lomu on the rampage in the last day-time Bledisloe Cup in Sydney in 1995.Credit: Dallas Kilponen

“It is certainly something we are exploring, and we are just working through with our partners to make sure it can work. But there will be no club rugby and there will be schools rugby, so it will be a really good opportunity to get our rugby community in a family-friendly environment, at a massive Test match.”

Waugh confirmed the Wallabies’ clash against Georgia at Allianz Stadium on July 20 is also set to be an afternoon kickoff.

The fixture against the world No.14 side has come via World Rugby’s San Francisco agreement in 2017, where SANZAAR nations agreed to reduce Test tours in the July window from three Tests to two in the year after a Rugby World Cup, to assist with player welfare.

It also included a commitment to play a Test match against a tier two nation in the July window, and after early talks with Fiji (who are playing New Zealand in the USA), Rugby Australia – in partnership with World Rugby – will host Georgia at Allianz Stadium on July 20. The world champion Springboks are hosting Portugal and Argentina are playing Uruguay.

Rugby Australia looked at options to play the Test in a major regional centre, but there are NRL games booked in Gosford and Newcastle on the same day.

Given Georgia don’t have an abundance of star names, and are known for scrummaging, the Test will prove a challenge to market, so again Rugby Australia aims to move the game to an afternoon slot to attract families.

Waugh said RA were talking with Shute Shield and club rugby officials about shifting times and dates of games on the Saturday afternoon. It falls during school holidays, and on a wet weather bye round in subbies rugby.

“We are just trying to work through with the Shute Shield and the clubs on the different timings and make it all work,” Waugh said.

Waugh said Georgia had proved at the Rugby World Cup they were more than just a scrum force.

“They were very competitive against us and look at the game they played against Fiji, they almost beat them, going length of the field,” he said.

“They have been historically a scrummaging and forward-based team but their backs have really come on and we saw that against us. I am not concerned about the attractiveness of the game. I think they have a nicely well-balanced style of play.”

All three episodes of the brand new Stan Original Documentary Series The Wallabies - Inside Rugby World Cup 2023 premiere February 22, only on Stan.