Venues and dates confirmed for The Rugby Championship - including unannounced late finish
SANZAAR and tournament hosts, Rugby Australia, have announced the match schedule and venues for The Rugby Championship 2020. The entire 12-match, 6-week tournament, as previously revealed, will take place in Australia and will be played in Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney between November 7 and December 12.
The tournament will kick-off with Round One in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on November 7 before the tournament moves to New South Wales for the remaining five rounds, with matches to be played in Sydney at Bankwest Stadium and ANZ Stadium, and McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
Inbound teams Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa will be required to observe all health regulations around their squads as imposed by the NSW and Queensland governments. The teams will be kept separate by operating within a ‘bubble’ during this period with all teams operating in clean environments controlled by NSW police. The wellness of the squads will be continually monitored in line with NSW Heath requirements.
SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos stated, “It has taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, but we are delighted that we can now confirm the match dates and venues for The Rugby Championship 2020. The Rugby Championship is one of the game’s showpiece events and includes some of the best rugby talent in the world.”
“While the rescheduling and reconfiguration of the Super Rugby season has not been ideal all the member unions have been committed in getting rugby back on the field and the culmination of this will be The Rugby Championship in Australia. I would like to thank all of our Unions and their staff for their dedication and hard work since the onset of this pandemic. Our Broadcasters and Commercial partners have been fantastic in working with us and continually adapting in what has been a very dynamic environment.”
SANZAAR would like to thank Rugby Australia as the host nation and Destination NSW and Tourism Australia for their commitment and involvement with venues and tournament logistics and assisting Rugby Australia in delivering this event.”
“It is fantastic to be able to take matches to three cities – Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney. The six double-header Saturdays are a first for the tournament and will produce an exciting feast of rugby for spectators at the venues who will actually be getting two world-class international tests for the price of one entry ticket. Thanks to our committed family of broadcasters this action will also be delivered to the living rooms of our overseas rugby fans providing a rugby feast similar to what we experienced a year ago with the Rugby World Cup,” added Marinos.
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NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said: “Sydney has once again reaffirmed its title as the nation’s sporting capital. With world-class sporting facilities and incredible food, wine, and natural beauty, NSW has so much to offer visitors and viewers from around the globe.”
“The Rugby Championship is the jewel in the crown of Southern Hemisphere Rugby. Hosting the majority of the games in NSW, including the highly coveted Bledisloe Cup, demonstrates our Government’s commitment to growing events across the state as a crucial means to rebuilding the NSW visitor economy.”
“The hard work of our government agencies, including Destination NSW and the Office of Sport, continues to see our state go from strength to strength as we navigate our way through what have been some turbulent times for our tourism and event industries.”
“I have no doubt that NSW sports fans will show up in droves for this incredible series and we look forward to welcoming fans from intrastate and hopefully interstate, for what is set to be an action-packed summer of sport across NSW,” added Mr Ayres.
Kick-off times for the double-header matches will be announced in due course. Rugby Australia and New Zealand have previously announced that the first two rounds of the four-match 2020 Bledisloe Cup will be played in Wellington and Auckland on October 11 and 18 respectively. The Wallabies versus All Blacks TRC matches on September 7 and December 12 will double up as the last two Bledisloe matches.
The Rugby Championship 2020 fixtures
Round One – Saturday 7 November 2020
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Argentina v South Africa
Australia v New Zealand
Round Two – Saturday 14 November
Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
New Zealand v Argentina
South Africa v Australia
Round Three – Saturday 21 November
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
New Zealand v South Africa
Australia v Argentina
Round Four – Saturday 28 November
McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Argentina v Australia
South Africa v New Zealand
Round Five – Saturday 5 December
Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
Argentina v New Zealand
Australia v South Africa
Round Six – Saturday 12 December
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
South Africa v Argentina
Australia v New Zealand
– SANZAR
Comments on RugbyPass
Good 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.
16 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.
7 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.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments