Time to crack the emergency glass on the All Blacks-Kangaroos hybrid test once sport returns
With both Southern Hemisphere rugby codes in a tailspin engulfed in a global crisis, there is one untested solution that would provide a significant payday once action is able to resume.
The idea of an All Blacks/Kangaroos cross-code hybrid test has been floated in the past, but has never got off the ground. Some estimates in 2017 suggested the Test would fetch $50 million.
With both calendars jam-packed, it was a stretch to get both parties to work together to get it scheduled.
However, as Warren Gatland recently suggested, now is a chance to re-look at things. Everything that was off the table before could now potentially be back on it.
At the beginning of the sport, rugby league split off as a faction from rugby union over a financial dispute.
Now with both codes in Australasia needing cash, could money be the thing that brings them back together?
Controversy sells. Hostility sells. Emotion sells. There are few backstories filled with more hostility and division as the two rugby codes going back over 100 years.
The players from the rugby clubs in the North of England wanted to be paid, and that was against the RFU rules. The clubs rebelled and created an all-new inclusive code in rugby league.
Rugby league was made for every man and quickly spread across the globe in defiance of rugby union administrators, who predicted with regularity it would die.
Union players who defected to the code were banned for life from returning.
The two codes have gone in separate directions for more than 100 years, ignoring each other, divided as ever. But union eventually followed the path that created league in the first place, turning professional and becoming a commercial venture.
There exists a subset of fans that cross over, but that is the minority.
This is exactly why it would provide the theatre to draw in fans from both sides, with divided loyalties already set. Bringing two sets of mutually exclusive fans together. A boxing promoter couldn’t dream of a better situation to hype up.
99% of the players are unlikely to have to ever play alongside their opponents, allowing them to be free to express themselves without retribution, with administrators on either side happy to lob grenades on the other code.
Part of the growing malaise in professional rugby is its sterilized nature with few prepared to sell interest in the game with unmeasured honesty or bold arrogance.
Unfortunately, that vanilla approach doesn’t create interest. Perhaps only Eddie Jones knows this in the modern game.
This kind of clash would allow for a return to unbridled tribalism, backed by a larger story than either code.
Even pre-crisis, both isolated codes were, and are, under attack from youth indifference, globalization of far more powerful US sports, and the rise of e-sports and gaming.
Rugby league and rugby union aren’t competing solely with each other, rather the wider entertainment market, whether they realise that or not.
They should be finding ways to unite and collaborate to strengthen each other as the existential threats grow.
Leveraging each other through a hybrid test would work to grow each other’s audience and provide a cash injection. League fans may appreciate the power of Ardie Savea and the skills of Beauden Barrett, leading them to watch more union, and vice versa.
The All Blacks struggle to find consistent Trans-Tasman competition from the Wallabies after 15 years of Bledisloe domination.
The rivalry only exists in memory and historic relevance as the contest has become the most lopsided of any in World Rugby.
For Australian rugby league fans, the domestic state fixture State of Origin is widely held as the pinnacle of their game, illustrating how little regard international rugby league holds.
Pitting the All Blacks versus the Kangaroos would put two of the best rugby sides on this side of the world against each other.
The worst-case scenario is a one-off payday that flops but puts cash in the bank to help recoup the losses from this season.
The best-case scenario is uncovering an annual series that spins top dollar for years and becomes the premier event of Australasian sport.
Is that not worth a try?
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments