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All Blacks v Springboks centenary test faces venue switch
By Chris Jones
The historic centenary test between the All Blacks and World champions South Africa is set to be switched to Perth due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 on planning for the Rugby Championship.
The All Blacks are scheduled to play the Springboks twice in the Rugby Championship, with the first meeting in Dunedin on September 25 marking the 100th Test dating back to 1921 when one of the fiercest rivalries in the sport started. The second scheduled test with South Africa is set for Auckland's Eden Park.
New Zealand's strict Covid-19 border controls have already led to two championship Tests against Argentina being moved to Australia and NZR chief Mark Robinson said the South Africa matches could also be shifted. “We’d dearly love for those two games against the Springboks to be played here in New Zealand," he told Sky Sports NZ.
"We all recognise the significance of those games and the huge amount of importance they have on the legacy of the rivalry. We’re doing everything possible to make that happen and we haven't given up all hope, but the reality is we're living in challenging times."
The All Blacks-Argentina matches will be played on September 11 and 18, and the Springboks games on September 25 and October 2.
Robinson said Perth was the preferred venue if the All Blacks had to play all four of their remaining Championship matches in Australia. The plan would then be for the All Blacks to launch their Autumn tour from Australia starting with a trip to Washington to play the United States, followed by a European tour including Tests against France, Italy and Ireland.
The first match played between New Zealand and South Africa was staged at Carisbrook in August 1921 with the All Blacks winning 13-5. The most recent meeting came in the pool stages of the 2019 Rugby World Cup with the eventual champion Springboks downed 23-13.
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Latest Comments
There's no easy fix here. From a geography standpoint, South Africa is kind of on an island alone in the rugby world, much like Argentina.
They don't have enough talent to have a top tier domestic league of their own, and it won't support the union financially. Best case you could hope for would be the five extant franchises (including Cheetahs) and perhaps a team from Namimbia. Gives you a 6 team league, that's not enough. Plus again, it's just not financially sustainable either.
At the same time, it's not really great for them to be involved in either the European or the Pacific rugby set up. That said, as bad as the travel is, at least Europe makes more sense from a time zone perspective. I still think it's the least bad option. Also has done wonders for the URC.
I don't think though, that it makes very much sense to have 4 teams from the URC excluded from European qualification. Not to mention, being able to compete in the Champions Cup was a big draw for the South African clubs anyway.
So yeah, I don't really see a change that makes more sense than the less than ideal situation that already exists.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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