One of the most thrilling Encounter in 2020 Bledisloe Cup history will reach its starts on Saturday.
Robinson said NZR was grateful to the New Zealand Government for easing the isolation restrictions to allow the Wallabies to come into the country and prepare for the test matches, and also thanked Rugby Australia for their support.
If New Zealand Rugby has its way, the match will instead be played in New Zealand. From a Kiwi point of view that would be a sensational outcome. But any fan who truly believes in such a thing as a level playing field – and surely rugby would wish to remain one of the last bastions of that concept – would know that match would be a complete farce.
No one can dispute the playing of international rugby underpins the financial models of every union in the world. That has been by design, rather than accident. As one insider put it to me, without beating around the Billy Bush, “New Zealand Rugby has turned the national sport into a cash business.” That cash business at essence sells approximately 14 products a year: they’re called test matches.
How we ended up there is not the point; it is undeniably where the sport is at, and there is no appetite around the boardroom table of the game’s national administrators to turn back the clock or to find some way back to a model that, in the minds of the high performance acolytes of this world, disrupts the convenience of a conveyor belt that delivers test-ready players directly into the mitts of the All Blacks coaches.
That is why the staging of test matches is right now the most significant concern to the overseers of the game, and exactly why the Sanzaar partners will this week convene to divine some kind of clarity around when and where this year’s Rugby Championship will be played. In the meantime, there is the not insignificant matter of a Bledisloe Cup series to consider and, on this matter at least, Australia must succeed off the field, if not on it.
New Zealand Rugby seems convinced that the Wallabies should play two test matches in New Zealand on October 10 and 17. That stance may have been perfectly reasonable during the outbreak of premature triumphalism surrounding the “elimination” of Covid-19 but, as we have all noted, how quickly things can change. The cancellation of the final Super Rugby Aotearoa match between the Blues and Crusaders and a North-South blockbuster played in the centre of a donut of yellow seats is evidence enough, surely, of the perils of hubris.
Dealing with a global health crisis is a challenge for all, and hardly the kind of eventuality many administrators of this generation would have ever thought they might have to contend with. In times like this, sports don’t get to make their own rules. Instead, sports have to live within the rules that are set for the public. At this stage, and for the foreseeable future, those rules mean any team coming to New Zealand will have to isolate for 14 days.
As important as the All Blacks may be to the bottom line of New Zealand Rugby, and as important as New Zealand Rugby thinks it is to the fabric of New Zealand society (tip: not as much as it believes) it would be a brave government a week out from an election to bend its own rules so 46 men could run around a footy field for entertainment purposes. Those of us who love the game want to see test match rugby. Those of us who would like our country to return to some kind of normal service, who have seen friends lose jobs and businesses shutter their doors, would be flabbergasted at the very thought of special treatment for a visiting footy team.
The fact is, as policy stands, the Wallabies would have to fly to New Zealand a day after the final of Australia’s domestic Super Rugby competition. The team would have to base themselves in a managed isolation facility for a fortnight. During that time, there would be no scenario in which the team could train together as a squad. There would be no chance to build the all-important cultural bonds that teams like the All Blacks speak at length about. There would be no opposed trainings, no real chance to test moves, and no ability to establish combinations through repeated drills. To put it simply, there would be no way to prepare adequately for a test match.
Event Australia vs All blacks | NZ vs AU Rugby
Date 2020 October 11
Venue Sky Stadium in Wellington
Television SKY & FOX PPV
Streaming WATCH HERE
Fox Sports Australia Rugby will be showing the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup down under. The Fox Sports package doesn’t come cheap, BUT there is a two week FREE trial if you want to give it a try before you buy.
Australians can also live stream 2020 Rugby Championship | Bledisloe Cup | World Cup Australia vs All blacks action via the Kayo Sports streaming service, which features no lock-in contracts and also includes access to over 50 sports, both live and on demand.
Kayo Sports Basic Package costs $25 per month and allows users to stream across two devices simultaneously. Alternatively, the service also offers a Kayo Sports Premium Package, which provides three concurrent streams for $35 per month.
Wallabies vs All Blacks Live coverage of the Rugby Championship in New Zealand will be shown on subscription service, Sky Sport.
Sky Sport will be showing every game of the Rugby Championship in New Zealand. For those without a subscription, free-to-air Prime will have delayed coverage of each All Blacks game in the tournament.
If you’re looking to stream All Blacks vs Wallabies live to your mobile device, Sky Go is the service you need.
2020 Bledisloe Cup & Rugby Championship will be played in August 2020 but, unlike other seasons, will consist of just two matches.
Here are the complete Bledisloe Cup fixtures for the 2020 Test matches taking place between the Wallabies and All Blacks.
2020, being a Rugby year, will see the Bledisloe Cup cut to two matches. The Wallabies will take their home game to Perth in a historic match that will see the Bledisloe contested in Western Australia for the first time.
8 August 2020 Australia vs New Zealand – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne | AEST (UTC+10)
15 August 2020 New Zealand vs Australia – Sky Stadium, Wellington
29 August 2020 Australia vs South Africa Optus Stadium, Perth
5 September 2020 Australia vs Argentina McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
19 September 2020 South Africa vs Australia Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
26 September 2020 Argentina vs Australia José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires
8 August 2020 Australia vs New Zealand – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne | AEST (UTC+10)
15 August 2020 New Zealand vs Australia – Sky Stadium, Wellington
29 August 2020 New Zealand vs Argentina – FMG Stadium Waiakto, Hamilton
5 September 2020 New Zealand vs South Africa – Eden Park, Auckland
19 September 2020 Argentina vs New Zealand – Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
26 September 2020 South Africa vs New Zealand – Mbombela Stadium, Mbombela
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There will be two ways to watch this Rugby Champs Test in Australia, with both Foxtel and free to air TV covering all Wallabies matches under the current broadcast rights deal.
Fox Sports, who are also broadcasting other Rugby Champs matches not featuring the Wallabies, will be the place to go.
Their coverage will begin at the conclusion of New Zealand and South Africa, which kicks off at the earlier time of 5:35pm (AEST) in Wellington, with the matches set to be broadcast on Channel 505.
To watch NZ vs AU Rugby coverage on Fox Sports, you’ll need to have a valid Foxtel TV subscription, complete with the sports package.
This is one of the best free sports streaming sites that you can find. The site offers a lot of live streaming links that you can use to watch all the All Blacks Rugby games.
All Blacks matches will be free-to-air on TVNZ 1. With 1-hour delayed coverage of all New Zealand matches and the World Cup quarter-final, and live coverage of the semi-finals and final.