All Blacks to play 100th test against Springboks in Townsville
Queensland will host Rugby Championship games in a series of double-headers with matches to be played in Brisbane, Townsville and on the Gold Coast.
The Wallabies will take on South Africa, for the first time since the Springboks won the 2019 World Cup, on the Gold Coast on September 12, before a second showdown in Brisbane six days later.
The centenary test between the All Blacks and Springboks will be played at Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville on September 25.
With South Africa and Europe considered as possible hosts for the remainder of the four-nation competition, the new schedule sees games played in Queensland over four weekends from September 12 to October 2.
Rugby Australia hopes to confirm this week that the Wallabies' postponed Bledisloe Cup/Rugby Championship test against New Zealand in Perth will be played in the WA capital on September 4.
SANZAAR boss Brendan Morris said the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in Australia had made planning difficult.
Rugby Championship matches were initially set down for Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra but those cities remain in lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreaks in NSW and the ACT.
"We thought last year was tough when we had to implement a Tri-Nations tournament in Australia with South Africa absent due to the pandemic, but the current disruption caused by the 'delta variant' of COVID-19 has seen government authorities tighten up border bio-security measures substantially," Morris said.
"This is understandable and therefore, we had no option but to basically move the remainder of the Rugby Championship to Queensland."
"On behalf of SANZAAR and the national unions, I would like to sincerely thank the Queensland Government for working with us around the clock to provide a travel, accommodation, training and playing environment that will safely allow us to complete the tournament."
The teams will be based at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast during their managed quarantine and will have no contact with hotel workers, contractors and the general public.
The Springboks and Pumas are set to arrive by Friday from South Africa after playing their second test there on the weekend.
Rugby Championship schedule (times to be announced):
Round One
Sat, August 14: New Zealand 57-22 Australia at Eden Park, Auckland
Sat, August 14: South Africa 32-12 Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Round Two
Sat, August 21: Argentina 10-29 South Africa at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Date TBC: Australia v New Zealand - Optus Stadium, Perth*
Round Three
Sun, September 12: New Zealand v Argentina, South Africa v Australia at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
Round Four
Sat, September 18: Argentina v New Zealand, Australia v South Africa at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Round Five
Sat, September 25: Australia v Argentina, New Zealand v South Africa at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville
Round Six
Sat, October 2: Argentina v Australia, South Africa v New Zealand at Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast
*doubles as third Bledisloe Cup match
Latest Comments
No just because the personal is much better than last year. I've shown no antagonism of Crusader players, you must be confusing me with someone else.
I have critized Razor for picking players he knows occasionally?
I said I'm not surprised because of his style, he's more a grinder player like Cane, not going to show up on peoples radar until you see how bad the other choices are. This year players like Clarke have been on fire and just show a bit more.
Are you one of those posters continually taking it easy on Razor because he doesn't have his Crusaders stars available? Do you think the rugby world is going to up to him suddenly once Mo'unga returns? lol
Go to commentsJohn you have been beating this drum for a couple of years, if you get proven right get back to us.
The last recent and decent Aussie coach was Ewen McKenzie, he was undermined and forced out by a couple of slimy Aussie players who were given a free pass when they should have been disciplined.
So our history since McQueen is very checkered and it seems to make little difference whether we have an Aussie coach or a Kiwi coach. The players have been entitled for a long time and we had to hit bottom to get them back into reality and to stop thinking it is all about them.
Cheika was an OK coach but his 'go our and destroy the opposition' tactic worked for a while and then didn't.
Please give me a list of great Aussie coaches that I have missed.
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