Blame game: The Christmas sacrifice the All Blacks must now make after losing Championship hosting bid
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has hit back at claims the Government’s quarantine regulations are to blame for Australia securing the Rugby Championship over New Zealand.
This comes after New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association boss Rob Nichol on Friday said the Government’s reluctance to allow visiting teams to train effectively once they arrived led to the tournament being moved across the Tasman – despite the fact governing body Sanzaar had earlier indicated New Zealand was the preferred destination.
The New Zealand Herald first revealed that New South Wales had pinched the four-nations Championship tournament from New Zealand and that it would be hosted from November 7 to December 12. The first two Bledisloe Cup matches will be played in New Zealand on October 17 and 24.
According to Nichol, the need to isolate without training for a set number of days, and restrictions around the size of bubbles thereafter were the major sticking points that swung the tournament in Australia’s favour. While South Africa, Australia and Argentina were expected to travel to New Zealand with squads of more than 45, they would only be allowed to train in bubbles no bigger than 25.
“The biggest challenge by far is they would have been coming with 45 players plus team management and when they arrived under New Zealand quarantine conditions, as was explained to us, the first three days they would have to spend in the hotel rooms by themselves, then they would have to return a negative Covid test,” Nichol told the Herald.
Rugby Championship is heading to Australia https://t.co/rH0DNTQ8l8
— Liam Napier (@liamnapiernz) September 10, 2020
“Ultimately, the quarantine requirements required by the NZ Government frankly made it impossible for South Africa, Argentina and Australia to come and prepare appropriately. They won’t be able to train together as a team, and they’re going to be asked to play Test matches after two weeks of quarantine.”
When asked about the reports that Australia had secured the Championship tournament before the official announcement, Ardern said the New Zealand Government had put in extensive work to secure it.
“We put in a huge amount of effort into that bid, worked really hard to accommodate the needs of the tournament and the players, even creating a regime where they could be training within three days of arrival in New Zealand,” Ardern said. “If we are not successful, I’d say it would be a result of being caught up in Sanzaar politics.
“The arrangements that we proposed as part of the bid did include training while in quarantine. We worked very hard with [Ministry of] Health and the tournament organisers to make it work in a way that looked after people’s health and didn’t jeopardise the tournament. It would mean they would’ve been able to train within three days of arrival.”
Ardern also backed the training facilities set to be used. “New Zealand has very successfully hosted tournaments of this nature on a larger scale before,” she said. “And I have every confidence that actually the facilities that we were proposing were up to scratch and the ability to train within three days of arrival was also an important part of that pitch.”
Sports Minister Grant Robertson said the isolation proposal would “protect the tournament” in case one player became infected with Covid-19. “If one player goes down with Covid they run the risk of infecting their whole team and putting the Rugby Championship in jeopardy whereas we would have isolated cases at day three,” he said.
“We still believe this was a very competitive proposal, especially given that we have the best prospect of being able to have full stadiums for the games.” Australia’s successful pitch is believed to centre on 50 to 75 per cent crowd capacity.
According to Nichol, however, these quarantine rules meant Australia was a far more attractive option. “It’s not just playing a one-off game, it’s six games in five weeks. That’s just not palatable to an international team. Unfortunately, New Zealand’s quarantine rules, as relates to these sports teams, just meant it wasn’t going to be possible,” he said.
“Compare that to Australia and our players can hop on a plane, land, they can immediately train and prepare together as a full squad and they are able to play a test match the day after they come out of quarantine. It’s an incredibly attractive option compared to New Zealand’s system. Ultimately that’s what swayed it.”
The All Blacks will travel to Australia after the Bledisloe Test matches, likely to be in Auckland and Wellington, where they could be based for up to ten weeks and will have to quarantine on their return home. That would mean All Blacks players, several of whom have young children, will be in quarantine on Christmas Day.
– New Zealand Herald
The moment when Tupou Vaa’i told his family he had made it into the @AllBlacks squad ? pic.twitter.com/f7zZSdflmR
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 6, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments