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Respected New Zealand writer GREGOR PAUL says the decision to reward Australia with the rights to host the Rugby Championship was a victory for their mentality of looking for what they can, rather than can’t, do around pandemic health guidelines.
Sanzaar confirmed on Friday that Australia would host the 2020 edition of the tournament, which initially seemed likely to be played in New Zealand, with reports suggesting that the latter country’s strict quarantine regulations were the deciding factor that caused Sanzaar to choose Australia as host. nation.
READ: Australia to host rugby champions
‘Sport and politics have never mixed well in New Zealand and now that Australia has been confirmed to host the Rugby Championship, there is one more episode to say that life is better when the two don’t collide, ‘wrote Paul in the Herald of New Zealand.
“ New Zealand’s preference to host a major rugby event only to then lose to Australia has happened before, and although there will be those who say New Zealand loses the hosting rights to the 2003 World Cup it cannot be compared to New Zealand losing the 2020 Rugby Championship, they absolutely can.
“What’s different about the Rugby Championship saga is that the main character, the main villain if you will, is the New Zealand Government rather than the New Zealand Rugby Union. NZR reasoned with the government for months that there were ways in which foreign teams could safely enter the country and handle them in quarantine while still managing to train, but to no avail.
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“The government insisted that training bubbles could not exceed 25 people and frankly, on this arbitrary basis, Australia lost the Rugby Championship. The money did not change the vote in favor of Australia. They created a practical means to quarantine foreign teams and won the Championship hosting rights with a convenience ticket.
‘None of this is to denigrate the severity of the virus or minimize its potential impact, it is to point out that no matter what they say, the government did not have to see the situation as one in which the health of the nation would be at risk. entire compromising its position on the quarantine rules for visiting teams.
“Australia did not and the decision to reward them with the Rugby Championship is a victory not so much for their entrepreneurial spirit as for their mentality of looking for what they can, rather than can’t, do around pandemic health guidelines.” .
Read the full column here
Photo: Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
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