League: Chance for Kiwis to settle score at Eden Park

The Kiwis will get the chance to lay to rest the ghosts of 1988 when league returns to rugby stronghold Eden Park for this year's Four Nations tournament.

The world champions will take on Australia at the redeveloped ground on November 6 - 22 years after an initial foray on to rugby's hallowed turf ended in an anti-climactic 25-12 World Cup final defeat at the hands of the Wally Lewis-led Kangaroos.

The match will be the second leg of a double-header, with England to take on Papua New Guinea in the curtain-raiser.

Four of the tournament's seven fixtures will take place in New Zealand, with the Kiwis taking on England in Wellington and the Kumuls in Rotorua.

The final is to be held at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, the scene of the Kiwis' 2008 World Cup triumph, on November 13.

New Zealand Rugby League chief executive Jim Doyle described the return to Eden Park as a positive step for the game.

"This double-header will be the biggest rugby league event in New Zealand since the 1988 World Cup final and could become the biggest of all time," Doyle said.

"It'll be a tremendous moment for the game to have rugby league's major powers all playing at the same ground on the same day. It's also a huge honour for our game that we'll actually be giving the new-look Eden Park one of its first major attractions."

Doyle hoped the occasion would produce New Zealand league's biggest crowd, topping the 47,363 spectators who turned out to see the rough-house Kiwis hammered by the classy Kangaroos in the 1988 World Cup final at the same ground.

Eden Park's capacity for the matches will be 50,000.

The Kiwis will launch the 2010 Four Nations campaign with their opening match against England in Wellington on October 23, followed by their second pool game against Papua New Guinea at Rotorua's International Stadium on October 30.

Details of the Kiwis' build-up were still being worked on but it was expected they would play a lead-in international against one of the Pacific nations, with England also likely to have a warm-up match in New Zealand.

"It's exciting for the team, for the fans and the country as a whole that we're now in a position to bring major international rugby league back to New Zealand and especially to have Australia playing here," Doyle said.

2010 FOUR NATIONS SCHEDULE
* October 23: New Zealand v England, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
* October 24: Australia v Papua New Guinea, Parramatta Stadium, Sydney
* October 30: NZ v Papua New Guinea, International Stadium, Rotorua
* October 31: Australia v England, Melbourne venue TBC
* November 6: England v Papua New Guinea Eden Park, Auckland
* November 6: New Zealand v Australia, Eden Park, Auckland
* November 13: Final, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane