Rugby union: Wallabies not backing down on Bledisloe Test boycott
Rugby Australia is considering three mutually exclusive options for how the Wallabies will deal with the Bledisloe Cup Tests in New Zealand.
Rugby Australia is considering three mutually exclusive options for how the Wallabies will deal with the two Bledisloe Cup Tests in New Zealand next month, but a boycott of any Test scheduled on the weekend of October 10-11 remains firmly on the agenda.
It came as a bolt from the blue when an email from New Zealand Rugby arrived late last week, alerting Australian rugby officials that as far as the Kiwis were concerned, the first Bledisloe would be scheduled for October 10. Until then, all the correspondence had indicated that the Wallabies-All Blacks Tests would be played on October 17 and 24, in Auckland and Wellington.
Australia immediately argued that an October 10 date was clearly unworkable. It would entail the Wallabies boarding a flight to NZ on Sunday, the day after the Brumbies-Queensland Reds Super Rugby AU grand final in Canberra, and going immediately into quarantine at an Auckland hotel.
Under NZ’s quarantine protocols, as outlined by NZ Rugby chairman Brent Impey, players initially go into individual isolation for the first three days. If they pass a COVID-19 test at that point, they are able to form a biosecurity bubble of groups of 15 for days four to seven. If at that point they pass a second test, that bubble can be expanded to 25 for days eight to 14. “If there was a positive test, then it’s all over,” Impey told NZ journalists.
The Wallabies don’t much like the protocols but were prepared to accept them if the first Bledisloe was to be played on October 17. But if the earliest they could assemble as a 44-man party turns out to be October 5 ahead of a Test on October 10, it would be rushed beyond all measure.
To this point, the Wallabies have not assembled as a team, and even if coach Dave Rennie was able to do some work with the NSW and Melbourne players later this week, there are squad members involved in the grand final. By contrast, NZ’s Super Rugby Aotearoa competition finished on August 16, giving All Black coach Ian Foster two full months of access to his players before the scheduled Bledisloe start. Importantly, while the Wallabies are in quarantine, the All Blacks will be able to train without restriction.
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has stated that there is no way the All Blacks would ever be asked to play a Test in Australia under such circumstances, no way, indeed, that the Kiwis would ever agree to such a rushed preparation. Rennie simply calls the arrangement “unacceptable”.
Option A in Rugby Australia’s battle plan is that sanity prevails and the Tests are pushed back to October 17 and 24. Actually, even those dates are flexible in RA’s mind because it is possible that Australia would prefer the matches be played on Fridays October 16 and 23, to enable both the Wallabies and All Blacks to fly across the Tasman and do identical lockdowns prior to the start of The Rugby Championships on November 7.
Option B is that the two Test sides make that trip across the Tasman somewhat earlier, to play the Bledisloe internationals in Australia, which would be better from a quarantine perspective and certainly from a commercial viewpoint, given that crowds are permitted at Australian venues but not at present in New Zealand.
Option C in the least desirable – one of the Bledisloes in New Zealand would be cancelled and a solitary Test played on either October 17 or 23. Given that a further two Australia-NZ Tests are scheduled on Australian soil during The Rugby Championship, there would be no problems from broadcasters who, contractually, are only paying for a three-Test Bledisloe series in any case.
Everyone is at a loss to understand why the NZR is insisting on October 10. It may well be that the Kiwis are miffed that Australia has “pinched” TRC off them – the NZ Herald’s word – but the reality is that the two neutral SANZAAR partners, South Africa and Argentina, voted in favour of stripping the tournament from NZ and sending it across the ditch.
There was a NZ report yesterday that leading All Blacks Richie Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett and TJ Perenara were considering making themselves unavailable for The Rugby Championship because NZ’s inflexible quarantine regulations would have mean they could not spend Christmas with their families. Australian officials, however, have been assured this is not the case.
Meanwhile, Wallabies strike weapon Jordan Petaia appears likely to play for the Reds against the Brumbies in the grand final after making a better-than-expected recovery from his head knock. And given Queensland winger Chris Feauai-Sautia’s history of making surprise early returns from soft-tissue injuries, he too is given some chance of playing despite his groin problem.
More likely, however, Wallabies bolter Hunter Paisami – who was so excited he was up at 6am on Sunday in the hope of being named in the Australian side — is likely to be chosen in the starting backline.
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