New Zealand Rugby League CEO Greg Peters. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Rugby League CEO Greg Peters. Photo / Photosport
New Zealand Rugby League chief executive Greg Peters says the impending Kiwis and Warriors games on successive weekends in Auckland should be seen as a "massive festival of league" rather than unfortunate calendar congestion after such a long drought.
Yesterday the NZRL confirmed the Kiwis would play Tonga on June25 at Mt Smart Stadium, with the Kiwi Ferns to face the Tongan Women's team on the same evening.
It's a long overdue return for the Black and White V, as the Kiwis haven't played since November 9, 2019.
But the timing isn't ideal for the Warriors, coming just eight days before they are due to stage their much awaited homecoming match (July 3 versus the Tigers) - their first NRL game on New Zealand soil in more than 1000 days, after the Covid induced chaos of the last three seasons.
But Peters dismissed suggestions the NZRL was gate-crashing the Warriors party.
"The timing is not my making," Peters told the Herald. "The window is the only opportunity that we have. It will be a massive festival of league in New Zealand."
Peters said there were distinct fanbases – albeit with some crossover – as well as different propositions. The Kiwis test was about the return of international football and a "rivalry that captures hearts and minds" while the Warriors was about "coming home".
"Both matches are putting rugby league back on the map in New Zealand," said Peters. "That's what we need."
The NZRL were desperate to get the Kiwis playing in front of local fans in 2022, to prevent a potential four-year drought between home matches.
"It's massive," said Peters. "If we hadn't played in New Zealand this June, we wouldn't have been able to play here again until the back end of 2023, because of the World Cup this year and the change to the season structure next year [no representative June window]."
The Kiwis last played in New Zealand in November 2019. Photo / Photosport
The NZRL had been reluctantly planning for the Kiwis match to be in Sydney, alongside the other Pacific tests announced yesterday (Samoa vs Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea vs Fiji) before the easing of border and crowd restrictions made games here viable.
"We were going to get it on come hell or high water, it was just where," said Peters, "As we needed full crowds to make it work."
The NZRL considered other local venues but Peters said Mt Smart was the "spiritual home" of league and the best place for this event.
It will be the second match between the two nations in this cycle, after the Kiwis beat Tonga 34-14 in June 2019, and there is hope they can meet more often.
"It's a unique proposition and one of the great sporting events," said Peters. "We want a regular fixture if we can achieve that."
Despite the relatively short notice of the tests, Peters is confident that players would be made available.
"There is no reason to think we won't be fielding two full strength teams, as far as possible," said Peters.
Warriors boss Cameron George conceded the date of the Kiwis match wasn't "ideal" but accepted the situation.
"Just in terms of the event for us, the build-up, we wanted our team to fly over together and be together the week before but that is not going to be the case," George told the Herald.
"And it would have been great to be the first game on our sacred home ground as league comes back to New Zealand. But we'll just get on with things and it is certainly good for the sport overall."
George didn't expect any negative impact on ticket sales, saying the Warriors' homecoming match is nearly sold out.
He added that the club won't block players from taking part in the June tests, despite the potentially large Warriors representation across the teams (particularly New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa).
"Many other NRL clubs will have the same impact," said George. "We need to weigh up what it all looks like closer to the time but in principle, we would never stand in the way of players representing their culture."
