Influential Kiwi backs Anzac Bledisloe after Super Round success

Leading Kiwi coach Jamie Joseph has backed the concept of a Bledisloe Cup clash on Anzac Day after a successful women’s trans-Tasman Test was staged on Saturday, and further “productive” meetings between Australia and New Zealand were held during Super Round in Christchurch.

The potential for more tent-pole events on the trans-Tasman rugby calendar was plain to see over the weekend at a hugely successful Super Round, which was sold out for all three days at Christchurch’s new stadium.

After three lacklustre years in Melbourne, the Magic Round-style event paused last year but was revived this season and drew 15,000 visitors to a buzzing Christchurch – including an estimated 4000 from Australia.

Super Rugby Pacific is set to keep Super Round in the city for the foreseeable future, but whether it stays on the same long weekend remains to be seen, with renewed momentum behind the creation of an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup clash.

Citing huge potential for fan engagement and commercial success, Rugby Australia took the proposal to New Zealand in 2024, but after initial support, then-NZR boss Mark Robinson told this masthead last year it was “not viable”.

But after regime change at NZRincluding Robinson’s departure, a new All Blacks coach and a new board, new chairman David Kirk said they would re-engage with RA and revisit an April 25 Bledisloe clash.

Chief executive Phil Waugh and other RA officials met with NZR counterparts on Friday before Super Round, and informed sources said the discussions continued to be positive and there is hope the NZR board will back it.

Waugh declined to comment on Sunday, but speaking to New Zealand radio last week, he said: “We’re very, very optimistic around what some of the outcomes of those conversations may look like.”

The Wallaroos and Black Ferns played an O’Reilly Cup Test match for the first time on Anzac Day on the Sunshine Coast, in front of 6000 people.

How a mid-season Bledisloe Cup would work logistically remains to be seen, but an influential source of the initial pushback was said to have come from within New Zealand’s Super Rugby outfits, who are privately owned and didn’t like the concept of losing Test players in the season for a week or two, as NRL clubs do during State of Origin.

But Joseph, who coaches the Highlanders and was runner-up to Dave Rennie for the All Blacks coaching job, said he supported the idea.

Standing at a fan site in Christchurch located next to the Bridge of Remembrance arch, built in 1923 to honour the region’s fallen soldiers, the senior statesman said he was “really open-minded”.

“A Test match between the Anzacs would be a great occasion, no doubt,” he said.

“I played and coached in Australia on Anzac Day, and I know it’s an emotional weekend for the Aussies, and it is in New Zealand as well. As a coach of the Super Rugby team, it’d be disruptive but crikey, lots of things have changed in the last few years, haven’t they? So yeah, definitely open-minded. The concept’s awesome, but there are lots of moving parts.”

After several frosty years, much-warmer relations between Australia and New Zealand rugby could also help get the game over the line. Notably, the All Blacks posted a promising post on Saturday with pictures of Wallabies and All Blacks, titled: “Our Trans-Tasman mates.”

The Kiwis dispatched all three Aussie sides at Super Round, and cemented themselves in the top four. The Brumbies, Reds and Waratahs are fifth, sixth and seventh and need to finish strongly in the last five rounds to be in with a hope of finishing in the top three and hosting a final.

The fast-improving Force are further back, and they shape as a bogy team for all their domestic rivals. The WA side play the Reds and the Brumbies, and the Tahs twice; starting on Friday night at at Allianz Stadium, with Zac Lomax making his return to Sydney.

With former league convert Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii also set for a return to the Waratahs side after seven weeks out with a hamstring injury, the clash of the ex-NRL stars will dominate headlines this week.

But after an impressive starting debut for the Force last week, Lomax’s credentials as a potential Wallaby will also be scrutinised in the game, with Wallabies Max Jorgensen and Andrew Kellaway in the NSW back three.

Former Wallaby winger Drew Mitchell, who played for the Force and NSW, believes Lomax showed his class aerially and skill-wise in the Force’s win over the Crusaders.

“He looked more comfortable than probably a lot of the other [ex-NRL] guys in the early stage, in the first few games that they’ve played,” Mitchell said.

“It’s going to be great. If you look at our outside backs, we’re pretty flush with depth at the moment. We’ve got plenty of options.

“There’s a lot of guys putting their hand up [for Wallabies spots], and there’s going to be some good players missing out, which is also what you want.”

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