Bumper Kiwis test season to be unveiled

A bumper Kiwis international league schedule is set to be confirmed this week, with New Zealand to play tests against at least four nations this year.

The Oceania Cup — first mooted in October — has also been rubberstamped, which will allow for more matches for the Island nations.

In a week when rugbydom has been criticised for a proposed World League likely to sideline the likes of Tonga and Samoa in favour of the United States and Japan, rugby league is trying to ensure recent Pacific region growth continues.

The announcement this week will confirm a British League Lions tour of New Zealand, the first time the composite team have toured here since 1996 (though the vast majority of the team will be English). It’s understood the Lions will play two Kiwis tests and face Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. The British will also stop in Papua New Guinea on the way home.

The schedule means Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Fiji will be guaranteed at least two tests each in 2019, a boost for each.

The Kiwis will play at least three times on home soil. Putting aside the 2017 World Cup, it will be the first time since 2014 they have been sighted more than once in a single year in this country.

They’ll face Tonga on June 22 in either Auckland or Hamilton, then Australia in Wollongong in October before the two tests with the Lions in November.

This year could represent the beginning of a brave new dawn for international league, which has struggled to cement a regular calendar due to the pre-eminence of the club game.

The impetus has largely come from the success of Tonga at the last World Cup, where they became the story of the tournament as they progressed to the semifinals, playing in front of sold-out stadiums on the way.

And their potential was shown again in the one-off test against the Kangaroos at Mt Smart last year, where the sellout crowd engendered a magnificent occasion.

In 2020 the Kiwis will face Australia in New Zealand, as well as matches against at least two Pacific sides, while the Kangaroos will tour Great Britain and France at the end of that year.

The following year the World Cup will be held in the Northern Hemisphere.