Intake of Rugby Australia President Hamish McLennan: Relationship with New Zealand Rugby at ‘Lowest’

The relationship between New Zealand Rugby and its Australian counterpart is at “an all-time low,” says Rugby Australia President Hamish McLennan.

The transtasman rugby relationship has always been somewhat irritable, but the Covid-19 pandemic has put additional pressure on both parties, particularly around what the future of competitions would look like.

The global sporting shutdown put an end to Super Rugby as we know it, and both countries created their own local competitions in 2020.

As discussions about the future of Super Rugby intensified, RA insisted on having all five teams as part of any future competition, while NZR disagreed and had its own ideas on what the competition should entail.

Meanwhile, Sanzaar gave Australia the rights to host the Rugby Championship due to higher commercial and quarantine reasons after New Zealand apparently had it on the bag.

New Zealand received two trials from Bledisloe, to be held in Wellington and Auckland, but Wallabies coach Dave Rennie objected to the country’s strict quarantine protocols that did not allow his squad to train in controlled isolation.

After threats of a Rennie boycott, the New Zealand government finally came up with a solution to allow the Wallabies to train as a group after three days.

According to McLennan, everything has led to a fractured relationship, which he hopes can be repaired over time.

“There is respect there, but I think the relationship is probably at an all-time low,” McLennan told Sky Sport’s The Breakdown. “I will do my best to fix it in time.”

One of NZR’s major recent complaints has been the six-week Rugby Championship schedule, particularly the final game against the Wallabies on December 12, which will force All Blacks players and staff to spend Christmas in controlled isolation.

NZR says it agreed to a five-week, one-week endgame schedule on December 5, something that both Sanzaar and RA dispute.

McLennan says RA initially agreed with NZR on a five-week schedule, but was forced to switch sides when South Africa and Argentina refused to budge. He says that at the last Sanzaar meeting, the dates were set and all parties involved agreed.

“On September 17 at a Sanzaar meeting those dates were agreed. We are really aware of the well-being of the players and we are trying to do the right thing on everyone’s part. The schedule has been blocked, until now we know that as of today there are some other options to bring to the table, so we have to reconcile them and take a look at it.

“On numerous occasions, and for the record, going back to August 27, in RA we said that we would be prepared to participate in a five-week competition, but New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina hit him on the head.

“And then on September 17, we voted with New Zealand for a five-week competition, but as you know, it’s Sanzaar who is running the joint venture, so we were beaten in that regard and moved on to a six-week competition.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said this week that quarantine rules will not be changed to allow All Blacks players and staff to spend Christmas with their families after the Rugby Championship in Australia, but offered some hope that an approach “Hot spot” for transtasman travel to some Australian states could be possible before December 25th.

McLennan says he hopes a resolution can be found, but urged the NZR not to boycott the final game against the Wallabies if a solution cannot be reached.

“I am really concerned about a boycott,” he said. “It would be a tragedy for him [Rugby Championship] and the game.

“It’s 10 weeks away, so we’ve seen the restrictions relax a bit here. I think the NSW government has done a great job of contact tracing and managing the disease. We’ve had two days in a row. in which ‘I have had no new cases of Covid.

“So I think we have to take a deep breath and step back a bit. Hope and plan for it to work out well. At the moment we are sure that everything will be fine. But we are 10 weeks away from that.” happening.”