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Thread: Bledisloe Tests Cut to 2

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Bledisloe Tests Cut to 2

    Bledisloe Cup reduced from three to two Tests a year.

    There is a significant change coming to the Wallabies’ Test calendar with the reduction of the Bledisloe Cup series from three matches to two each year.

    https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/rug...24-p59zdb.html

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    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
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    So I assume after we bent over backwards and let hold the two test series in NZ last year because of Covid that the kiwis will return the favor this year and give us two matches and a chance to take back Bled.

    If we only ever play one match in each country each year and the holder retains it in the event of a drawn series, we may NEVER hold it again.

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    Senior Player Chopper1's Avatar
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    The Wallabies are stuffed now, they will never beat the All Blacks 2 Zip.

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    All Blacks v Wallabies: Bledisloe Cup series to be reduced from three tests to two
    Paul Cully
    16:33, Feb 24 2022


    There is a significant change coming to the All Blacks’ test calendar with the reduction of the Bledisloe Cup series from three tests to two each year, Stuff can reveal.

    The series is one of the most famous on the rugby calendar, but it has been a one-sided contest since 2003, when the All Blacks regained the Cup.

    For all its progress over the last five years, women’s rugby continues to face huge challenges. This is the State of the Union, an investigation from Stuff.

    They have not let it go since, and the appetite for a three-test series each year has declined, with the cutting of the third Bledisloe test seen as a way to reducing the quantity of tests the All Blacks play each year.

    That will be the case in 2022, and it may be the way of the future as the All Blacks weigh up capping the number the tests they play at 13 – or even 12.

    Stuff can also reveal that plans are afoot for the Māori All Blacks to face Ireland at least once as part of Ireland's visit to New Zealand.

    The All Blacks are due to host Ireland for three tests in July – Eden Park, Sky Stadium in Wellington and Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin are the likely venues – but the addition of a possible fixture or two against the Māori All Blacks at regional venues would lend an old-school feel to the tour, and make it the centrepiece of the All Blacks’ home calendar.

    Under present Covid-19 settings, crowds would not be permitted at the tests, but there are hopes the Omicron wave will have peaked well before July, meaning the turnstiles will be open.

    The reduction in the number of Bledisloe tests has been previously discussed, but New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia had been locked into a 10-year contract for three tests a year that was signed in 2011.

    That contract ran out last year, when the All Blacks hosted back-to-back tests at Eden Park in a Covid-hit schedule.

    Eden Park was only half-full for the second test, won 57-22 by the All Blacks, and although the test had been hastily arranged without the normal marketing push, the sight of thousands of empty seats in Auckland suggested the series had lost at least some of its lustre.

    Nonetheless, there was a strong crowd in Perth for the third Bledisloe test, and the immediate financial impact of the two-test series will be felt more keenly by Rugby Australia this year.

    The Wallabies were due to host the All Blacks twice in Australia this year, but with that now off the table they will take a commercial hit.

    The two-test series also makes Wallabies coach Dave Rennie's job of winning the Bledisloe Cup even harder, as the Wallabies will have to win in New Zealand and Australia.


    The Bledisloe Cup has been played as a three-test series since 2006 – except in Rugby World Cup years – and has even been stretched out to a four-test series in some years.

    That has bred a sense of over-familiarity, and it’s understood the All Blacks are looking at a test against Japan before their end-of-season tests against Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

    The entire global calendar is currently up for discussion and rugby powerbrokers from both hemisphere will soon meet in Europe to thrash out the possible creation of a Nations Championship in 2024, against the backdrop of South Africa hinting it wants to join the Six Nations after the Sanzaar’s broadcasting deals run out in 2025.

    Reports in South Africa have even suggested that the Springboks could play in both the Six Nations and The Rugby Championship in the shorter term, but that thinking is likely to be cooly received, and seen as antithetical to the integrity of both competitions.

    The Nations Championship discussions will take in the commercial split from any new competition, which isn't likely to be owned by World Rugby, but it is still understood that there is work to be done is getting the agreement of the French and English clubs, particularly if the new competition requires an extra test weekend in late November to stage a final.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...e-tests-to-two

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    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
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    Same journo, but from NZ Stuff, change the teams name and leave out the important bits and then reproduce for WA Today.

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    IMO it should always have been two; three was too much and unbalanced. They could perhaps think about having the first match in the challenger's country though, to maximise the chances that the second game will mean something. Not that it'll really matter given the trajectory of Australian rugby and the continued unwillingness to make meaningful changes.

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    Last edited by AndyS; 24-02-22 at 12:56.

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyS View Post
    IMO it should always have been two; three was too much and unbalanced. They could perhaps think about having the first match in the challenger's country though, to maximise the chances that the second game will mean something. Not that it'll really matter given the trajectory of Australian rugby and the continued unwillingness to make meaningful changes.
    If everyone was being fair minded about this the trophy would be decided on aggregate scores for the first year only. Then after another belting we would have no ammo for whinging about getting screwed over again.

    HTH

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    At least we can now anticipate that the 3rd test won't be a dead rubber.

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    Champion Tazzmania's Avatar
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    I wonder if NZ is not cutting back to fit in a match in Montpelliar due to Altrad sponsorship and one in the USA in view Silverlake Private equity deal?

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    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chopper1 View Post
    The Wallabies are stuffed now, they will never beat the All Blacks 2 Zip.
    Probably weren't going to beat them 2-1 either.

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    The home test should be locked into Perth for the foreseeable future!!

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    GeeRob reporting on Offsiders that Perth has been scheduled a Test against England in July.

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    As I understand it, one Bledisloe will be played in each country each year (maybe not in World Cup years?). So while the 'mini tours' that will be in place this year for the Rugby Championship (2 x NZ v SA in SA, 2 x Arg v NZ in NZ, 2 x Aus v SA in Aus, 2 x Arg v Aus in Arg) will over time accommodate 2 match 'series' home and away amongst the RC countries, it will not happen for Aus v NZ or presumably SA v Arg (one match in each country each year, so that there are always 3 home matches and 3 away matches). Will not get a 'full round' of the mini tours in anyway before end of 2025 if 2023 has a shortened competition. Who knows what will happen with the RC after that (have assumed the Boks are locked in up to and including 2025). Seems like the Bledisloe commercial imperative will stop Aus achieving 2 wins in a row against NZ in NZ for the first time (ignoring 1949 and 1986, when NZ were not at full strength). And on that note, why do Aus have to start the mini tours with 2 x SA in Aus (did that last year)?

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    OK, so I got carried away with the 1986 All Blacks v Wallabies two Australian wins in a row reference. The Wallabies won two out of three in NZ that year, but not in a row (with the All Blacks not at full strength for the first test due to the players from the rebel ‘All Black’ tour of South Africa being banned for that test, but not the subsequent two tests). My point really was that the Wallabies have never won a Bledisloe series played wholly in NZ when NZ have been at full strength.

    Maybe I also jumped the gun on assuming that the mini tours don’t apply for NZ v Australia and South Africa v Argentina. There is nothing that I can see online that says they don’t. But Andy Marinos recently referred to ‘one in each country’ being the new approach for Bledisloe. So who knows.

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