Northern | US

Bledisloe to be staged at new venue on eve of World Cup


Comments
Comment

The Wallabies and the All Blacks will play their first ever Bledisloe Cup match in Western Australia.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Wallabies will take on the men in black on August 10, 2019, in what will be the first Bledisloe Cup clash in Perth.

Wallabies back Dane Haylett-Petty and former All Black Keven Mealamu joined the Western Australian Minister for Tourism; Racing and Gaming at Optus Stadium in Perth unveil the new venue.

It will be one of the last games for both teams ahead of the World Cup in Japan, which kicks off in September.

“This isn’t just any Test match, this is one of the most important games that the Wallabies will play next year,” said Rugby Australia Chief Raelene Castle in announcing the match on Monday.

“Not just because it’s against our traditional rivals, the All Blacks, but also because it’s one of the last chances to prepare before the Rugby World Cup kicks-off in Japan.”

It is the first time Perth has hosted a Bledisloe fixture and will be a new experience for the All Blacks, who have never played there before.

ADVERTISEMENT

The city has hosted 15 Wallabies Tests previously. South Africa has featured in eight of them, with Ireland, Argentina, Fiji and England making up Australia’s opponents in the rest, according to Rugby Australia.

Video Spacer

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

18 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close