new zealand rugby [NZR] says he is “aligned in principle” with Rugby Australia [RA] plan a combined Wallabies-All Blacks team to take on the British & Irish Lions as part of their 2025 Down Under tour.
The Lions are expected to play and talk with the Wallabies in Australia for three Tests daily mailRA Chairman Hamish McLennan announced that he had proposed an additional clash between players from Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. [MCG].
“We have talked to the Kiwis about hosting an ANZAC team against the Lions in 2025 and they are considering the idea,” McLennan said. daily mail.
“I am sure it would be a success and we would sell the MCG with 100,000 fans.
“The best of the Wallabies and the All Blacks against the Lions would create tremendous global reach.”
While the concept would seemingly have many hurdles to overcome, one of which was finding space to allow it to be played on an already packed schedule; player welfare concerns; and All Blacks managers who don’t want to put their players in jeopardy ahead of their own international campaign; An NZR spokesman confirmed that the plan had been discussed.
The spokesman told ESPN that the plan is still in the “early days” and that NZR needs to work out exactly how it would fit into the schedule and how the business aspects would work.
New Zealand’s Rieko Ioane is tackled during the rugby championship match against Australia in Auckland on September 24, 2022. Greg Bowker/Getty Images
The Lions previously faced a combined team during their 1989 trip to Australia, winning the game at Ballymore in Brisbane 19-15 after inflicting a consecutive 2-1 defeat on the Wallabies earlier in the tour.
Only three All Blacks players made the list, with Kieran Crowley, Frano Botica and Steve McDowell the only ones to be part of a combined squad of Wallabies greats David Campese, Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh.
The proposal comes despite a cool atmosphere between Australian and New Zealand unions in recent months, although McLennan said the relationship is back on track.
McLennan had previously claimed that Australia could withdraw from the fledgling Super Rugby Pacific competition after the 2023 season and said a return to domestic competition, last seen in 2021, was a definite possibility unless a fairer distribution was agreed. of streaming revenue with NZR.
“It’s all good with the Kiwis now, we’re friends again and we’d love to give them a piece,” McLennan said. daily mail your CGM plan.
The two sides have been engaged in some cold-blooded disputes this year, but recent reports suggest talks in September were successful and a deal could be reached before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the Lions return to Australia for the first time since 2013 when they defeated the Wallabies 2-1 in the third test in Sydney in an impressive victory.
A possible match in the Pacific Islands as part of their 2025 tour has also been discussed, although McLennan is keen to increase interest and revenue in Australia, such a match could fall victim to the proposed ANZAC plan.
The Wallabies and All Blacks recently met in Melbourne, playing to packed houses across the city at Marvel Stadium. The All Blacks emerged victorious in a try after the final siren after French referee Mathieu Raynal made one of the most controversial decisions in Test rugby history by penalizing the Wallabies for wasting time.
With sold-out crowds, fans touring the UK and Ireland unable to see the Lions as part of their 2021 tour to South Africa due to COVID and the unique offer an ANZAC team would think of, McLennan is right to believing that the concept could draw a large crowd to the MCG.
— With Reuters
Source: www.espn.co.uk
