'We've all made this sacrifice': All Blacks legend's impassioned plea to NZ Government about hosting test matches
Sir John Kirwan has sent an impassioned message to the Government around the lack of progress made around All Blacks tests this year.
Speaking on Sky Sport‘s The Breakdown, where he is a co-host of the show, the All Blacks legend called out the Government over the roadblocks around creating a tournament to bring teams into the country to face the national rugby side.
“What’s upset me the most is we’ve created an amazing environment in New Zealand. Even this last lockdown was only in Auckland,” Kirwan said.
“Our Prime Minister said the other day it can happen. I don’t know why the tournament is not here. How can Fiji go to London? Why aren’t we having this competition in New Zealand with England, with whoever it is?
“We’ve made all this sacrifice to make it the safest country in the world and what is happening? I heard it’s going to be in Brisbane. Like I said, Fiji is going North. What is happening?”
Kirwan’s comments come after several leading sports administrators made pleas to the Government about the need to open borders in a controlled manner to allow international teams into the country, otherwise professional sports could be in huge trouble.
The prospect of having All Blacks tests this year – in New Zealand or abroad – has been a mystery, with fresh doubts emerging following several setbacks around the Bledisloe Cup and the Rugby Championship.
New Zealand Rugby hopes to play test matches against at least Australia and a Pacific team, and possibly hosting the Rugby Championship – featuring Australia, South Africa and Argentina – later this year.
However, doubts have emerged over the logistical difficulties of securing locations for visiting nations to train while in quarantine, as strict border restrictions continue due to the pandemic.
News over the weekend that six players from the Pumas tested positive for Covid-19 added fresh doubts over the likelihood of the four-nation tournament going ahead.
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NZ Rugby is more hopeful of a Bledisloe Cup series against the Wallabies but that has also been complicated by border restrictions and a resurgence of the virus in both countries.
Rugby Australia recently announced that the Bledisloe test scheduled to be held in Melbourne this year would be postponed to 2022, while reports from the Sydney Morning Herald suggest Australia are about to pinch the Rugby Championship from New Zealand due to “superior commercial modelling and quarantine conditions”.
A meeting is being held by Sanzaar, the governing body of the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby, on Thursday, with a decision on the future of the competitions reportedly set to be announced this weekend.
Kirwan called on Minister of Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson to figure out a way to bring other nations into New Zealand to play sport in a safe way, saying the country needs to see the fruits of its labour around the sacrifices made from stringent lockdowns and its status as one of the safest countries in the world.
“Grant Robertson is our Minister of Sport. Come on mate, let’s do this. I know you’re saying ‘we can’t do this for the normal people and this for [professional sport]’. I disagree. Sport is an integral part of how we feel good. How good was it for us to watch sport during Covid? Straight out of Covid, all the people turned up. So we need to make exceptions for our sports people by doing the right things.
“I’m sure if you ask New Zealand, put them two weeks in quarantine in their own country, fly them down in a private jet – and I’m not just saying rugby, I’m saying our golfers [etc.] – let’s use New Zealand at the moment to create some real sporting events.
“Yeah we might have to change a couple of rules, but I’m sure we can look after the country and do that.”
Kirwan, who scored 35 tries in 63 tests for New Zealand, also questioned the lack of transparency at New Zealand Rugby and the radio silence around All Blacks tests this year.
“I also want to know why the New Zealand Rugby union is not putting some pressure on. Why are we so quiet? Where’s our transparency, people? We need to know. We don’t know what’s happening on Thursday night.
“Why can’t we come out and talk about this stuff in the public domain. We all have a right to know because we’ve all made these sacrifices.”
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that there is a “real possibility” of All Blacks tests and the Rugby Championship being held in New Zealand, but admitted it is “not just down to us”.
Robertson echoed the Prime Minister’s comments, saying the Government is working on hosting sporting events in New Zealand but said the safety of New Zealanders is the top priority.
“We’re currently working through with a number of sports around what they would like to happen …we’ve been working with rugby, we’ve been also talking to cricket and netball, and there are others who are now interested,” Robertson said in reaction to pleas from three leading sports administrators to relax Covid-19 border restrictions.
“I want as many sporting competitions as we can possibly get [but] clearly our priority has to be to keep New Zealanders safe and that will remain at the top of our list.”
Robertson added that Government support since the lockdown in March has kept many sporting organisations afloat but that work is being done to ensure Kiwis “get to see their heroes in action”.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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?
9 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.
9 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.
28 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 🤐
24 Go to comments