The Anzac team strip in 1989 was a yellow, white and black-hooped design. Photo / Getty
The Anzac team strip in 1989 was a yellow, white and black-hooped design. Photo / Getty
The Wallabies and All Blacks could form a united team to square off against the British and Irish Lions in 2025, according to Rugby Australia (RA) Chairman Hamish McLennan.
It would be only the second time an Anzac XV has formed, after the 1989 Lions tour of Australia ended with a clash against a combined team.
McLennan said the fixture would be an exciting draw card on a tour that is already expected to kickstart a boom period for Australian rugby culminating in hosting the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029 respectively.
“We’ve talked to the Kiwis about hosting an ANZAC team against the Lions in 2025 and they’re considering the idea,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I’m in no doubt it would be a belter and we’d sell the MCG out with 100,000 fans.
“The best of the Wallabies and the All Blacks against the Lions would create enormous global coverage.”
The Anzac XV game would likely be one of eight or nine games in the tour that would also include tour matches against Super Rugby sides and potentially the recently revived Australia A team.
The idea was resurrected in May 2020 by then-interim RA CEO Rob Clarke in the early days of discussions with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) on a Covid-induced alternative to the Rugby Championship.
“If we can’t get a full TRC (The Rugby Championship) because of the travel restrictions then we are looking at other things that we could do, a Wallabies versus Anzac invitation team. Something to be creative,” he told the Weekend Australian.
The plan never eventuated, and recent comments from McLennan suggested the partnership between RA and NZR was moving further apart.
“We’ll honour our commitments in ‘23 but we need to see what’s best for rugby in Australia leading up to the RWC in Australia in ‘27,” he told Fox Sports in June. “All bets are off from ‘24 onwards with NZ.”
A young Frano Botica was part of the Anzac side that played the Lions in 1989. Photo / Photosport
The disputes had arisen around RA’s belief that NZR should share its hefty broadcast revenue with Australia, given the two nations contributed an equal number of teams to the Super Rugby product.
NZR’s deal with Sky Sport pays an estimated A$100 million (NZ$109m) a year, three times RA’s A$33 million per year from Stan/Nine.
McLennan’s plan for an Anzac XV fixture would be more than a crowd-pleasing idea, though, as it may hold the key to pulling off a deal with the Kiwis many thought Australia had no right to ask for.
“All is good with the Kiwis now, we’re friends again and we’d be happy to give them a cut,” he said.
With the lucrative Lions tour on the horizon, RA may be under the impression its financial woes will soon turn around, potentially promising New Zealand a cut of the Lions funding in exchange for a quick cash hit now.
If that is the case, it would be in NZR’s best interests to put far greater effort into making sure as many of the top All Blacks available for the clash as possible, unlike the 1989 game.
Played on the free weekend between the All Blacks’ two Tests against Argentina, the New Zealanders were each given the opportunity to opt out over concerns of injuring themselves.
Twelve All Blacks pulled out, leaving only three to take the field - Steve McDowell, Kieran Crowley and Frano Botica - alongside a largely Australian contingent including Michael Lynagh and David Campese.
The Lions’ last tour to Australia in 2013 was reportedly worth around A$71 million to RA.
In this proposed match, the lure of seeing superstars of the game like Australia’s Taniela Tupou and NZ’s Richie Mo’unga line up together would be an obvious draw card.
It remains to be seen whether the promise of an Anzac XV is enough to ensure the future of Super Rugby Pacific, with RA hinting at more to come in the near future.
