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Mark Robinson, CEO of New Zealand Rugby.
Fiona Goodall / Getty Images
The All Blacks’ claim to have been “caught off guard” by a Rugby Championship schedule that would leave their players in quarantine at Christmas was in dispute on Thursday, as reports claimed New Zealand voted in favor of the program.
Both the Sydney Morning Herald and New Zealand news outlet Newshub said they had obtained the leaked minutes of a Sanzzar meeting on September 17 that showed New Zealand had signed on to a six-week tournament ending on December 12.
That schedule would mean the All Blacks would still be in the required two-week quarantine for travelers returning to New Zealand over Christmas.
New Zealand Rugby Chief Mark Robinson, along with delegates from the other Sanzaar countries, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, were included in the meeting.
A Rugby Australia source also told AFP that New Zealand voted in favor of the original Rugby Championship deal for a six-week tournament.
The Sydney Morning Herald said the minutes “revealed that New Zealand Rugby agreed to play a six-week Rugby Championship that would end on December 12, despite their insistence to the contrary.”
Sanzaar CEO Andy Marinos told Newshub that the tournament “was always agreed to take place from November 7 to December 12 and they (New Zealand) knew it.”
But when the schedule was made public, New Zealand was publicly enraged, claiming it went against their attempt to terminate on December 5 so players could complete the quarantine requirements imposed by Covid and be home by Christmas.
“We didn’t agree to the schedule and we didn’t agree to the schedule. Or the announcement,” Robinson repeated at a news conference Wednesday, hours before details of the leaked minutes emerged.
“In any forum we have been to, there has been no agreement to play the tournament on December 12, at no time and in any meeting. We have been very clear on that.”
There was no immediate reaction from the NZR to the leaked documents and the issue was further overshadowed by the head of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, Rob Nichol, who said he received conflicting information on the matter.
“What we have learned is at exactly the same time that Sanzaar’s management released a press release that effectively changed the draw to show our last game on December 12, the broadcasters themselves had circulated a draw showing the last game. on December 5, “Nichol told reporters.
