Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall beams in from Christchurch after his team got underway with a win against the Hurricanes in Super Rugby Aotearoa, while Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan opens up about the change underway across the ditch and chats about an interesting proposal for 2027.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster has confirmed that a North Island versus South Island rugby match, doubling as an All Blacks trial, will go ahead - and revealed how players would qualify to represent the respective teams.
The match is set for August 29, the second weekend after the final round of Super Rugby Aotearoa, but coaches for the teams and a ground for the game are yet to be finalised.
Players would be eligible for either the North or South Island side depending on which province they made their first-class debut for.
The eligibility ruling means the likes of Northland's Jack Goodhue and Taranaki's Scott and Jordie Barrett will instead play for the South Island, having made their provincial debuts for Canterbury, while Christchurch's Anton Lienert-Brown and Invercargill's Damian McKenzie will play for the North Island as they both first played for Waikato.
"We're firming up a date and we've got to sort the ground out. We've got to find some hotels that aren't being used for [Covid-19] quarantining, that's not easy," Foster said in a video posted to allblacks.com.
"We've looked at it and we think the best legacy thing for us to do is pick players on the first province that they played for because that was probably the start of their move into the professional game. We think that's the best criteria."
Jordie and Scott Barrett will play for the South Island, while Beauden Barrett will represent the North. Photos / Getty
The announcement has already caused a stir, with some suggesting a better way to judge players' eligibility would have been by picking them based on where the players attended high school.
In my eyes 👀 the eligibility criteria should’ve been which high school players attended. Pretty obvious the AB selectors want a better spread of ABs across both teams. Can’t have the 3rd best #9 or #2 missing out for the North Island side. Just call it what it is an AB trail. https://t.co/wU7wK5rIhz
According to Foster, the game would effectively double as an All Blacks trial match - with the All Blacks scheduled to play the Wallabies in a four-match Bledisloe Cup series, with the first test pencilled in for October 10 and likely to be staged in Wellington.
