Australia, New Zealand resume stalled Rugby Championship

The Wallabies host the All Blacks in a rare Sunday afternoon match at the international level. Turns out that's not the only unusual occurrence in a Rugby Championship compressed from four countries into one Australian state — at least from next week.

COVID-19 restrictions first postponed Sunday's finale of the Bledisloe Cup at Perth from late August when the All Blacks were unable to travel to the Western Australian capital due to a lockdown in New Zealand. They'd already clinched the annual series between the trans-Tasman rivals for the 19th straight year with wins over two weekends at Auckland's Eden Park.

Since then organizing body SANZAAR decided to move all the matches and teams to Queensland state due to a variety of COVID-19 restrictions across the time zones and even between states in Australia. Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are all staying at a resort on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane.

The teams will play four doubleheaders over four weekends ending on Oct. 2. The first of those will be held Sept. 12 — another Sunday — when New Zealand plays Argentina followed by Australia vs. South Africa. It will be the Pumas and world champion Springboks' first game action since Aug. 22 when South Africa beat Argentina for the second time in two weeks.

The changes this year are similar to last year's Rugby Championship, when South Africa withdrew from the tournament and it was played entirely in Australia. Organizers had hoped the 2021 version would be different.

"We thought last year was tough when we had to implement a Tri-Nations tournament in Australia with South Africa absent due to the pandemic, but the current disruption caused by the 'delta variant' of COVID-19 has seen government authorities tighten up border bio-security measures substantially," SANZAAR chief executive Brendan Morris said on Aug. 24 when the decision was made to move the remainder of the tournament to Queensland.

On Sunday at Perth, All Black Beauden Barrett will return to the No. 10 jersey in which he twice was voted the world's best player. Barrett has played only sporadically at flyhalf for the All Blacks over the past two years, since Richie Mo'unga succeeded him in the starting role. Most of his recent test appearances have been at fullback or from the bench.

For the Wallabies, Samu Kerevi and Izack Rodda will make their long-awaited returns.