Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking grills PM Jacinda Ardern over the loss of the Rugby Championship to Australia due to quarantine rules. Audio / Newstalk ZB
A complex deal made by Rugby Australia has affected the All Blacks' preparation for the first Bledisloe Cup match in Australia.
The Rugby Championship will be in New South Wales but the first Bledisloe test on Australian soil will be played in Queensland.
The All Blacks have agreed tothis unexpected twist, which will see them quarantine for 14 days in New South Wales when they arrive in Australia for the Rugby Championship and then fly to Brisbane on the morning of November 7 to play the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium later that night.
It's a scenario that has arisen after Rugby Australia found itself in a pickle having struck a deal earlier this year, when the Rugby Championship was going to be in New Zealand, to play one Bledisloe Cup test in Brisbane after the Queensland state government tabled an exceptional financial package to make it happen.
But when the hosting rights to the Rugby Championship were given to New South Wales last week, Rugby Australia was in a jam – scrambling a late proposal to persuade the All Blacks to help them out by agreeing to play in Brisbane.
The All Blacks are happy to do it on the condition that the Wallabies are subjected to the same preparation of having to quarantine – they will be returning from Bledisloe Cup tests in New Zealand – in New South Wales and flying to the venue on the day of the game as well.
Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks look on after drawing the 2019 Rugby Championship Test Match between New Zealand and South Africa. Photo / Getty Images.
New Zealand have done their old foe a major favour and that's partly why there is growing frustration that Australia are not adopting a similarly flexible approach to the proposed Bledisloe Cup schedule in New Zealand.
The preferred dates for the two Bledisloe Cup tests in New Zealand are October 10 and October 17, but the Wallabies are pushing to change those to October 17 and October 24.
Over the weekend Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said New Zealand's strict quarantine rules of only allowing a maximum of 25 players to train together after seven days would make it impossible to play the first test on October 10.
The earliest the Wallabies can arrive in New Zealand is September 23 as the Government can't cater for their quarantine needs until then.
Under the proposed quarantine regulations that would have been in place for the Rugby Championship, the Wallabies would have had to spend the first three days not training at all, days four to six in a maximum training bubble of 15, jumping to 25 on day seven.
Their first day of being able to train as a full squad would have been October 8, just two days before the test.
Nic White of the Wallabies celebrates a try during the 2019 Rugby Championship Test Match between the Australian Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed those regulations have been relaxed to allow the Wallabies to train as a bubble of 15 on days four to six and then as a full squad from day seven, meaning they would have nine days as a full squad while in quarantine, plus another four once they had served their isolation period.
The All Blacks will have an identical build-up as they intend to hold two separate training camps – one will be three days the other four – and then have six days together before the test.
Both the All Blacks and Wallabies will have 13 days preparation and it is understood that New Zealand Rugby is even willing to play the first Bledisloe Cup test on Sunday October 11 to alleviate Australia's concerns about a lack of time to get ready.
"We have heard the criticism from overseas but at the same time we have been working hard to make quarantine as effective as possible and we feel we have done that," says All Blacks coach Ian Foster.
"We have heard them and we have answered them. We are giving them a preparation that is at least equal to ours and I don't see how you can get any fairer than that.
"If you look at a fair playing field, we have both got new coaches. No one can say that we need more time because we are new. We have both had a full domestic rugby season so we are on an equal footing there."
TJ Perenara of the All Blacks and team mates sing the New Zealand national anthem during The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup Test match in 2019. Photo / Getty Images.
New Zealand is reluctant to push back the dates of the Bledisloe tests because it will heavily compromise their Rugby Championship preparations.
If they played on the 24th, they would leave for Australia the following day not necessarily sure at that stage of their injury toll from the night before and only finish their quarantine on the day of the first Rugby Championship game.
