KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks are working on playing two neutral venue tests next year, with Denver, Tokyo and London all in the frame.
A test in either Denver or Tokyo against the Wallabies will almost certainly take place in November 2009 and there are loose plans to explore the option of playing at Twickenham or Wembley Stadium.
That game in London could be against either of the All Blacks' Sanzar partners but the danger of playing South Africa is that it would become nothing more than an exhibition game.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said talks with the marketing company pushing the Denver game will continue next month. He said the desire to play a Bledisloe Cup game in Tokyo has increased significantly following the success of playing in Hong Kong and a game in London is an option because all three Sanzar nations will be in that part of the world this time next year fulfilling their IRB test obligations.
A decision on whether to play Denver or Tokyo can only be made once the respective commercial scenarios have been fully assessed while the London game would need to be cleared by the RFU if it was to take place at Twickenham. "We are really not keen to be playing exhibition matches," said Tew. "We have talked in the past about playing one of our Sanzar partners in London, either at Twickenham or Wembley."
The attraction of playing Australia in offshore venues is that they can be part of an extended Bledisloe Cup series - giving them legitimacy. South Africa and New Zealand have an intense rivalry but there are concerns about playing games where there is no significant trophy on the line.
Tew also said attempts to scrap the June window have again been rebuffed and the NZRU will stop pushing that line. The NZRU and the Australian Rugby Union made strong arguments to have the window scrapped but were met with the firmest of resistance from England and France who both said their clubs will not budge.
With that having been made clear, agreement has been reached that the IRB will look to jazz up the June window with something more meaningful and potentially lucrative for the Southern Hemisphere hosts.
Between 2000 and 2008 the home side has won 86 per cent of the June tests and the fans in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are not engaged by such one-sided tests.
The imbalance has been caused by the Northern Hemisphere sending weakened teams while there is also limited appetite for one-off tests where countries fly in and fly out in a week, or at most, two weeks.
The IRB have been asked to come up with a more engaging format for June which could see a return of the old-fashioned tour. Whatever format is agreed, the basic principle of the best playing the best has to be honoured and Tew says if it's not, then it has been made clear the NZRU will pull out of the IRB rotation and make its own test arrangements each year.
"That is not our preferred option," said Tew. "But we have reserved the right to move to a deregulated environment."
