2021 Rugby Championship
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All Blacks and Black Ferns home tests cancelled; NZR pauses All Blacks Perth travel
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has announced the All Blacks’ two home Fortinet Rugby Championship Tests against South Africa and the Black Ferns two O’Reilly Cup Tests against the Wallaroos will not be played in New Zealand.
The decision follows advice from Government that the Springboks and Wallaroos would not be able to enter New Zealand to play the matches due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The All Blacks were scheduled to play South Africa at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Saturday 25 September, and at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday 2 October. The Black Ferns were scheduled to play the Wallaroos at Rugby Park, Christchurch, on Sunday 26 September and at Eden Park as part of a double header with the All Blacks.
NZR has also confirmed that, given the current uncertainty over The Rugby Championship schedule, it has made the decision not to send the All Blacks to Perth this weekend for the third Bledisloe Cup Test which was scheduled to be played at Optus Stadium on Saturday 28 August.
Ticket holders for the matches in Auckland and Dunedin will receive a full refund and will be contacted by the respective ticket providers in due course - Ticketek for Forysth Barr Stadium, and Ticketmaster for Eden Park.Speaking on the decision to not have the All Blacks travel to Perth this weekend, Robinson said:
“Without complete certainty on the team’s next movements around The Rugby Championship we felt it was prudent for the team to stay put in New Zealand until SANZAAR have announced the full tournament schedule.
“Once the team leaves our shores, they currently can’t return until November 23 post their Northern Tour, so given the uncertainty, it makes sense to pause and get more clarity on these fixtures. -
AB remaining home tests cancelled. Perth travel paused.
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Sensible decision really. Hopefully teams get to fly to locales where they've got a more mature and developed response so we can see some rugby.
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It's almost like RA and SANZAAR live in another world (one without Covid). The Perth test couldn't even be played. Then why would NZR send the ABs to Perth?I agree that Robinson seems to be bad at dealing with situations like these (including communicating about it), but I don't trust Marinos either. He's at least as incompetent as Robinson, maybe even more incompetent.
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@bovidae said in 2021 Rugby Championship:
Games from France tend to be 9 am NZT. That would be a good time.
Yup Sunday morning drinking, gives you time to recover for back to work Mon AM
EDIT: Only if you stop at lunch time tho!
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@stargazer said in 2021 Rugby Championship:
It's almost like RA and SANZAAR live in another world (one without Covid). The Perth test couldn't even be played. Then why would NZR send the ABs to Perth?I agree that Robinson seems to be bad at dealing with situations like these (including communicating about it), but I don't trust Marinos either. He's at least as incompetent as Robinson, maybe even more incompetent.
I'm so sick of all these things playing out in the media. It's fine not to trust Marinos, but there seems to be a common denominator in this poor communication (eg. Silver Lake deal) and it's Robinson.
He seems like a likeable enough guy, he just lacks the competence for the role.
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@tj said in 2021 Rugby Championship:
@stargazer said in 2021 Rugby Championship:
It's almost like RA and SANZAAR live in another world (one without Covid). The Perth test couldn't even be played. Then why would NZR send the ABs to Perth?I agree that Robinson seems to be bad at dealing with situations like these (including communicating about it), but I don't trust Marinos either. He's at least as incompetent as Robinson, maybe even more incompetent.
I'm so sick of all these things playing out in the media. It's fine not to trust Marinos, but there seems to be a common denominator in this poor communication (eg. Silver Lake deal) and it's Robinson.
He seems like a likeable enough guy, he just lacks the competence for the role.
He might, but that's awfully unprofessional of SANZAAR. It's approaching the point where NZR just might be better off not carrying these ungrateful fluffybunnies.
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@antipodean it's really just a shame that at a time where we could be building something great with our partners, we're stuck with administrators across the board who get stuck treading water and wasting time on this sort of in-fighting.
I don't see how NZ rugby can lead a sustainable long term existance without at least some of the SANZAAR partners.
