Trans-Tasman pact solves Bledisloe impasse

Intervention by Australia’s and New Zealand’s prime ministers has assured the Wallabies a fair preparation ahead of the Bledisloe Cup series.

The Bledisloe Cup will played over two Sundays in October after a deal was made between the Australian and New Zealand governments Picture: Getty Images

Not too many trans-Tasman sporting disputes warrant intervention at prime ministerial level but New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern reached out to Scott Morrison to ensure the two Bledisloe Cup Test matches would go ahead next month, ending threats of a Wallabies boycott.

So restrictive were NZ quarantine protocols that Australia coach Dave Rennie did not believe the Wallabies could prepare properly and vowed they would not be fronting up for the first Test on October 10. And judging from Ian Foster’s comments that he believed NZ should make certain it hosted the Bledisloe series “and in a fair way”, it would seem even the All Blacks coach had his own concerns that Australia was being asked to cram in its pre-Test training.

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In the end, with both countries’ leaders working to make it happen, the result was better than even Australia had dared hope. Not only were the two Tests approved late on Tuesday by NZ Rugby but they were scheduled so that both the Wallabies and the All Blacks could return to Australia for an untroubled build-up to The Rugby Championship.

Initially, it seemed the second Test was likely to be played on October 24 which would have meant the two sides would still have been in quarantine during the scheduled opening round of The Rugby Championship on November 7.

But that concern was completely erased when NZ Rugby announced that the Wallabies would face off against the All Blacks on Sunday, October 11 in Wellington and the following Sunday, October 18, at Eden Park in Auckland.

Both games will be played at 3.30pm local time.

Those dates in no way complicate The Rugby Championship or the obligatory two-week quarantine both sides must go through beforehand, while the Sunday start allows the Wallabies an extra day to finetune their preparation.

The Wallabies will come together as a full squad of 44 next Monday following the Super Rugby AU grand final in Canberra on Saturday between the Brumbies and Queensland Reds. It has not been determined when the team will leave for New Zealand but the expectation is that it will be some time next week.

New Zealand’s updated quarantine protocols virtually mimic the ones Australia put in place for the NZ Warriors to compete in the NRL. At the start of Tuesday, the Wallabies were only allowed to train as a full group after six days of quarantine but by day’s end, the confinement period had been cut to three days.

That is conditional on every Wallaby returning a negative COVID-19 test. But suddenly a set of rules which Rennie had announced were “unacceptable” on Sunday became very acceptable.

“I want to thank NZ Rugby chairman Brent Impey, CEO Mark Robinson and the NZ government for working with us to deliver a good and acceptable solution for both countries,” Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan said on Tuesday.

By staging the first Test in Wellington, NZ Rugby is holding out hope that spectators will be able to attend. The government will review the alert level applying throughout the country next Monday although Auckland may take longer to get the all-clear. It’s for that reason that it was awarded the second test.

It is to be hoped that the spirit of co-operation which allowed the Bledisloe impasse to be resolved now extends to the negotiations for a trans-Tasman competition. Both Australia and New Zealand appear to have accepted that COVID restrictions will limit both countries to a purely domestic Super Rugby-style competition next year but the hope is that a 12-team trans-Tasman series will be able to kick off in 2022.