2018 All Blacks Test matches
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Re: 2018 All Blacks Test match venues
According to Balls.ie, the All Blacks Reportedly Wanted To Play Ireland In The Netherlands next year , but will instead play in Dublin only. So we are playing both England and Ireland on next years end of season tour in November .
"Ireland declined the opportunity to once again play New Zealand on neutral soil. That is according to Derek Foley in today's Irish Daily Star.
It is said that Ireland will play the All Blacks next year but it will be just a single fixture rather than the two played in November 2016.
Ireland's first victory against the All Blacks came in Chicago's Soldier Field last November. Though, they would gain revenge a fortnight later in a bruising game at the Aviva.
The New Zealand Rugby Union apparently also wanted to play Ireland in the Netherlands, in a fixture which would have fallen outside of the designated November window. Feyenoord's De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam was a possible venue for the game. However, the match would reportedly have seen the IRFU only receive expenses.
That Ireland will again play the All Blacks so soon in a November international comes as welcome news. This year's fixtures have had an undoubted flatness - certainly in comparison to last year's two games against the All Blacks, coupled with the wins against Canada and Australia."
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@kiwidom Interesting choice for a neutral venue. The Netherlands is gradually climbing in the world rankings (just entered the top 30 two weeks ago and they sit 2nd behind Portugal on the table of the Rugby Europe Trophy, the 3rd tier in Europe below the 6 Nations & the Rugby Europe Championship) and rugby is growing in popularity. Dutch players like Tim Visser and to a lesser degree, Zeno Kieft (an up-and-comer playing for La Rochelle), have a lot to do with that. The 2015 RWC was the first rugby world cup to be widely covered on Dutch tv, with most ABs games televised live. From this year's EOYT, at least one game per weekend is broadcast live as well (including FRAvNZL and FRAvSAF) and the growing number of rugby fans love the All Blacks.
De Kuip is a good football stadium and the Netherlands have a great infrastructure, which combined with its central location makes it easily accessible for fans of surrounding countries, mostly tier 3 rugby nations, and also fans in Ireland, UK and France. It's a pity that it's not going ahead, unless the ABs find an alternative to Ireland for that game. I'd prefer Scotland, because then there'd been a chance that Visser would play and that would be great for the Dutch crowd. It would have been even better if they would organise a test between the Netherlands and another tier 2/3 team as a curtain raiser.
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There was discussion about a second test this November but the Baa-baas game took precedence.
I'm puzzled by the alleged claim that Ireland would only be paid expenses - doesn't make sense to me. Why on earth would they travel to a neutral venue to just have their costs covered and NZ take all the profits? The complete reverse of the revenue-sharing proposal that Tew was espousing. The IRFU were paid €1m fee for the Chicago game.
Rather than Netherlands, Germany would be a better venue, and would likely be more appealing to IRFU in terms of strategic interests for the PRO14 with the Germans looking to get a team into the championship at some point. There's about 30k Irish living there so the stadium would get some attention. And a similar figure living in the Benelux countries.
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@pot-hale
I can only assume (hope) balls got it wrong the 'only expenses' part. That would make zero sense.
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As long as the team is named on a Thursday, who cares what ground they play at.
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@pot-hale said in 2018 All Blacks Test matches:
There was discussion about a second test this November but the Baa-baas game took precedence.
I'm puzzled by the alleged claim that Ireland would only be paid expenses - doesn't make sense to me. Why on earth would they travel to a neutral venue to just have their costs covered and NZ take all the profits? The complete reverse of the revenue-sharing proposal that Tew was espousing. The IRFU were paid €1m fee for the Chicago game.
Rather than Netherlands, Germany would be a better venue, and would likely be more appealing to IRFU in terms of strategic interests for the PRO14 with the Germans looking to get a team into the championship at some point. There's about 30k Irish living there so the stadium would get some attention. And a similar figure living in the Benelux countries.
I would have thought the Adidas connection alone would make Germany an attractive location. I believe rugby is pretty strong in the Heidelberg area. I think they have a pretty good stadium as well.
The Netherlands is a puzzling one. As you say, why would Ireland agree to it if they don't get any cash?
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Funny enough I was at the Ireland v Fiji game last week and happened to be sitting beside some Dutchmen. They explained that every November they pick a city and go and watch rugby and party a bit too. It was the first time I'd met Dutch rugby supporters and they seemed like a nice gang.
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Ireland set to face All Blacks next year
Ireland are set to face New Zealand in the 2018 November series and may even get two chances to topple the All Blacks. Joe Schmidt's side have only once beaten the back-to-back World Cup winners, famously claiming a victory in Chicago last year. Speaking in the aftermath of Ireland's three-win Guinness Series, Schmidt, quoted in the Irish Independent, said of next year's autumn fixtures: "You never know the Tier 2 (team) until later but I think it is Argentina and New Zealand. "We are very conscious of looking after the provinces as well. Wales playing next week (against South Africa) - the week before Europe - I think it makes it very tough for their regional teams leading into Europe. "It is a little bit of a compromise I suppose." While there is no official word yet, Schmidt said that he was open to an add-on fixture, possibly abroad. He said: "At this stage (it is just three games). Again, we'll always get asked for a fourth game. "We haven't had a formal request from anyone yet but if there is one, as we got for the match in Chicago, then we'd consider it if it comes up and we'd try and stay in touch with the provincial coaches and see if we can make it work." -
@stargazer said in 2018 All Blacks Test matches:
Ireland set to face All Blacks next year
Ireland are set to face New Zealand in the 2018 November series and may even get two chances to topple the All Blacks. Joe Schmidt's side have only once beaten the back-to-back World Cup winners, famously claiming a victory in Chicago last year. Speaking in the aftermath of Ireland's three-win Guinness Series, Schmidt, quoted in the Irish Independent, said of next year's autumn fixtures: "You never know the Tier 2 (team) until later but I think it is Argentina and New Zealand. "We are very conscious of looking after the provinces as well. Wales playing next week (against South Africa) - the week before Europe - I think it makes it very tough for their regional teams leading into Europe. "It is a little bit of a compromise I suppose." While there is no official word yet, Schmidt said that he was open to an add-on fixture, possibly abroad. He said: "At this stage (it is just three games). Again, we'll always get asked for a fourth game. "We haven't had a formal request from anyone yet but if there is one, as we got for the match in Chicago, then we'd consider it if it comes up and we'd try and stay in touch with the provincial coaches and see if we can make it work."As long as it doesn’t become another fucking ‘exhibition match’....
