Leaked minutes date did not line up, Nicol says

AUCKLAND: New Zealand Rugby has a fresh fight on its hands after claims surfaced that leaked documents show it agreed to a schedule that would involve the All Blacks being quarantined on Christmas Day.

NZR chief executive Mark Robinson denies he signed off on an agreement which included a sixweek Rugby Championship that would end on December 12, before a twoweek quarantine period for the players as mandated by the New Zealand Government. Both Newshub and the Syd

ney Morning Herald have reported that leaked minutes of a meeting involving the Sanzaar chief executives show New Zealand was not ‘‘blindsided’’ by the announcement of the sixweek tournament.

Newshub said the minutes clearly showed a sixweek draw was accepted by everyone, and that all parties were

comfortable with the September 24 announcement of the draw.

The SMH said it sourced the minutes from New Zealand. They ‘‘clearly show’’ the sixweek format was agreed upon by all four nations.

However, speaking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast yesterday, New Zealand Rugby Players Association boss Rob Nichol said the date of the reported minutes did not line up.

‘‘All the information we have is no they didn’t [agree to it],’’ Nicol said. ‘‘The minutes story was an interesting one because our information show there wasn’t even a meeting on that date and noone’s seen any minutes.

‘‘There’s some real irony in this because what we’ve learnt is exactly the same time that Sanzaar management put out a press release effectively changing the draw to show our last game on the 12th of December, the broadcasters themselves had circulated a draw that showed the last game on the 5th of December and all approved it,’’ he said. —