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New Zealand Prime Minister responds to Wallabies coach Dave Rennie's quarantine restriction comments

By AAP
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has downplayed concerns that the country’s strict biosecurity regulations could see next month’s Bledisloe Cup matches moved to Australia or cancelled altogether.

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New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and Rugby Australia (RA) are yet to finalise details for the games, though October 17 and 24 have been pencilled in as potential dates.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, however, suggested on Sunday that NZR were pushing for a match on October 10 and said there was no way his team would be ready to play on that date given the biosecurity protocols in New Zealand.

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Wallabies coach Dave Rennie announces his new squad

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Wallabies coach Dave Rennie announces his new squad

But Ardern told a media conference on Monday she did not think it was likely that Australia would refuse to play.

“I don’t anticipate that being an issue,” she said. “I believe we will be able to find a workable solution to make the Bledisloe Cup happen.”

New Zealand’s strict protocols, which mean teams would only be able to train in larger groups gradually as they go through the 14-day quarantine, was seen as one of the reasons it lost out to Australia for the Rugby Championship hosting rights.

Ardern said hosting the Wallabies for the Bledisloe Cup was a different proposition from the Rugby Championship, which also involves South Africa and Argentina, in terms of risk.

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More than a dozen Pumas players and coaches have tested positive for COVID-19 infections in the last two weeks.

“We are still working through logistics,” she said.

“Keeping in mind … it is a different risk profile for teams from Australia than the likes of South Africa or Argentina.”

Ardern added the government would work with the dates that NZR and RA agreed upon.

A NZR spokesman said no dates had been finalised yet.

New Zealand’s general election is scheduled for October 17 and Ardern said she felt confident the country could vote and also watch a rugby game on the same day.

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“I will be trying to do the same,” she said.

“I think the most important thing is that New Zealanders get the chance to see that match.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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