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Trans-Tasman Super Rugby clashes 'one of the models that we are working through at the moment'

Aaron Cruden. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The prospect of trans-Tasman rugby battles including Bledisloe Cup tests resuming this year have received another boost.

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Rugby Australia’s under-pressure chief executive Raelene Castle says in a Sydney Morning Herald report that there are “consistent discussions” with her New Zealand counterparts.

Like all sports, rugby faces an uncertain future because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Castle’s three-point plan to keep ailing Australian rugby afloat appears to include a quick return to transtasman matches.

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This would probably require a change to quarantine restrictions but Castle appeared hopeful of the Wallabies and All Blacks resuming battle.

The SMH reported that “encouraging progress in containing the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand has given weight to the theory that trans-Tasman club matches and Bledisloe Tests will be played later this year”.

Castle was reported as saying: “That’s certainly one of the models that we are working through at the moment.

“We remain in consistent discussions with New Zealand because, obviously, that makes a lot of sense.

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“The indications we’re getting with government agencies is that the sequence of opening up (borders) is likely to be domestic first, then into trans-Tasman, then into Asia Pacific, so we have a number of different scenarios to look at and that is currently one of them.”

The full force of the pandemic struck just as RA was about to sign a big broadcasting deal with Optus.

Castle is hopeful a new deal and World Rugby loans of $16m will come to her sport’s rescue. She believes negotiations wth Optus can resume before the end of the financial year.

“Castle must also find a way to put a product back on field to ensure Foxtel and Channel Ten have no reason to pull any future payments,” the SMH reported, citing the trans-Tasman fixtures.

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Foxtel, Channel Ten and BSkyB signed a five year $285m deal with RA Australia in 2015. But the predicted price of any new deal had already dropped significantly before the virus struck.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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