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The Crusaders fly to the middle Richie Mounga in charge against the Bues in Christchurch on June 11, 2020.
Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images
New Zealand said Thursday that it was “shocked” by the Rugby Championship schedule that would leave All Blacks players stranded in quarantine at Christmas, saying leaked documents contesting this were incorrect.
As the Covid-19 pandemic forces a rethinking of how Sanzaar’s flagship tournaments are held, New Zealand also said it would do so again with just Super Rugby next year.
But, with the prospect of a travel bubble opening across Tasmania in the coming months, a cross-competition involving five Australian teams could follow later in 2021.
In 2022, New Zealand would look to add four more teams that could include two Pacific Island teams, Australia’s Western Force, and a New Zealand-based South China team that would also play in Shanghai or Hong Kong.
New Zealand Rugby President Brent Impey said the change was necessary. “I would hate to think that we were arrogant,” he said.
“Pre-Covid, our model here was broken anyway so we were starting to work on what New Zealand would be like in the future and Covid has really sped up the process.”
On the Rugby Championship dispute, Impey insisted that New Zealand’s position was always to finish the four-nation tournament, with the aim of resurrecting test rugby in a year interrupted by Covid, on December 5.
The calendar dispute has plunged New Zealand-Australia sporting relations to “their lowest ebb”, according to Rugby Australia president Hamish McLennan.
The media in both countries claimed to have seen leaked minutes showing New Zealand had signed a six-week tournament that ended on December 12.
That schedule would mean the All Blacks would still be in a New Zealand-mandated two-week quarantine for travelers returning over Christmas.
New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson, along with delegates from the other Sanzaar countries Australia, South Africa and Argentina, were included in the September 17 meeting.
But Impey, who is also the president of Sanzaar, claimed that the reported minutes were simply someone’s notes.
“There has not been a Sanzaar board meeting since August 4, so the notes that have been released are not minutes of the board and have a fundamental error in it. [ saying] … the six-week draw was agreed to by everyone, “Impey said.
“I can tell you it wasn’t. We know it and Rugby Australia and SANZAAR know it,” he said.
“The notes also clearly refer to an impasse and there are many emails to prove it, so our position has never changed,” he said.
Impey said New Zealand’s focus was on trying to solve the problem and “we are not going to bother playing tit-for-tat on so-called notes that were not minutes or minutes of the board.”
The Sydney Morning Herald said the leaked document “revealed that New Zealand Rugby agreed to play a six-week Rugby Championship which 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 enraged, claiming it went against their attempt to end on December 5 so that 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 claimed 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.”
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 issue.
“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.
