Former England captain hits out: 'There's a little bit of self-interest going on at the moment'
England rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio has blasted the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks, questioning their refusal to play tests in the northern hemisphere.
All three Southern superpowers were set for their respective end of year tours up north this New Zealand summer, before the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the international calendar.
The All Blacks were scheduled to play England, Wales and Scotland starting in November. No revised fixtures have been set to compensate.
For the northern countries, they will instead compete in the new Eight Nations tournament starting on November 14, which features all Six Nations sides as well as Fiji and Japan.
Dallaglio, a 2003 Rugby World Cup winner, references the Pakistan and West Indies cricket sides, who traveled to England within the last month and a half to compete in test series’ amid the global pandemic, as an example of how it could work.
Dallaglio told The Times Ruck Podcast they “have shown clearly you can come over to this country, you can self-isolate, put yourself in a bubble and you can play a test match series”.
“You can then self-isolate again before travelling home.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it? Everyone talks about the southern hemisphere sides not being able to travel and not wanting to travel – it’s definitely the latter.
“Clearly New Zealand, South Africa and Australia don’t want to come here.”
The 47-year-old is aware of the strong rivalry between England and New Zealand. He played in seven matches against the All Blacks, scoring one try. One of those games came in 2003 in Wellington – the last time England won on Kiwi soil.
“I’ve not been made party to the conversations, but there’s no reason why the All Blacks couldn’t come here stay in a hotel to self-isolate and play five and six test matches across the autumn.”
Instead of intentional encounters, New Zealand has enjoyed a stellar Super Rugby Aotearoa competition since the initial national lockdown, with a North Island versus South Island clash scheduled for the end of this month.
However, the latest strand of community transmission confirmed in South Auckland has left all future fixtures in limbo. That makes it extra difficult to plan any sort of international test or series, wherever it may be.
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Dallaglio can understand apprehension attached to travel.
“Understandably so, there’s a little bit of self-interest going on at the moment. New Zealand are protecting what they have and looking at their recent matches you can understand why,” Dallaglio said.
“Australian rugby are just trying to get themselves sorted out in every single way, there’s lots going on there.”
New Zealand Rugby’s hopes of competing in a Bledisloe Cup series remain a possibility.
On Monday interim Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke was optimistic a series can go ahead, citing positive talks between the two governing bodies.
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful 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 commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments