Rugby: Home for Christmas? What the Australian quarantine change means for the All Blacks

The All Blacks have pledged to leave New Zealand five days after the second round of the Bledisloe Cup this month, with Ian Foster floating the chance to play the inaugural round of the Rugby Championship a week early to avoid the team having to be quarantined until Christmas on your return home.

Foster, the head coach of the All Blacks, told the Herald With the New South Wales government lifting quarantine requirements for Kiwis on Friday from 16 October, the team would be happy to play the inaugural round of the Rugby Championship one week after arriving in Australia.

“We are very aware that there have been many variables at stake with the draw and now we have established the certainty that our second Bled will be on Sunday the 18th, then we will fly next Friday the 23rd and prepare to play the first game of the Rugby Championship in Australia on November 7, “Foster said as the All Blacks wrapped up a week-long camp in Hamilton ahead of the opening round of the Bledisloe Cup in Wellington next weekend.

“But with the news of the quarantine there is no reason why we couldn’t play a week earlier.”

Foster said that no player has indicated that they will not join the team in Australia, although some may choose to be late depending on the imminent arrival of babies. Players with babies to be born in the coming weeks include Ardie Savea, Sevu Reece, and Nepo Laulala.

The change in quarantine measures will also mean the All Blacks reconsider plans to bring a 46-player team to Australia. Foster can now choose to drop the additional 11 players he planned to add to his 35-man Bledisloe Cup squad as Miter 10 Cup injury cover, and only blow them up if necessary.

“We hope that all the players are available. The only ones that we have to continue working on, which is beyond our control, is a couple with babies that will be born by that date. We will make that plan accordingly.

“Those are the scenarios of normal life that we have to deal with all the time, it has only been exacerbated by the quarantine. There is not a player who does not want to come.”

New Zealand Rugby remains locked in tense negotiations with Rugby Australia and Sanzaar’s partners over what it believes is a broken deal to end the Rugby Championship on the weekend of December 5.

Sanzaar launched the Rugby Championship draw from November 7 to December 12 without the approval of NZ Rugby, and a nasty row of claims and counter-claims with Rugby Australia has since emerged.

Earlier this week, Foster admitted that he was bitterly disappointed with the way the Rugby Championship draw had played out, while Captain Sam Cane said the team was surprised by the December 12 date.

Foster is now trying to move forward and focus on the first two trials of his tenure as head coach.

“We are excited to get there and we will let the administrators work out the other end of the tournament, that is their decision. We know there is an important dispute and New Zealand Rugby must resolve.” “

NZ Rugby will continue to push for the All Blacks and Wallabies final test to move forward from December 12 for the team to avoid spending Christmas in quarantine.

However, a resolution is not guaranteed in any way.

Foster doesn’t expect the transtasman boardroom to spill onto the field when the All Blacks and Wallabies play the first test of the year on Sunday, October 11.

“What’s happening with the giveaway is for the people in charge of that area. I understand that the public often blurs the lines between what is happening with the administrators and the teams.

“I read some of [Wallabies assistant coach] Scott Wisemantel recently said ‘we are just coaches, we will play the games we need to play’.

“Between the teams there is nothing but healthy respect and respect for each other, but they are Wallabies and we are All Blacks and when the whistle blows, that seems to change and it seems to encourage us both to want to go and get stuck in a great occasion.

“What is happening outside the park has been a bit secondary, but it is put aside when the actual event starts, which is whistle time next Sunday.”