Pasifika teams set to replace Italy for ABs

New Zealand Rugby is getting set to turn its July test window into an historic celebration of Pacific Islands rugby, dovetailing nicely with its expansion plans for the Super game in 2022.

NZ Rugby has been left scrambling to save its July test window after the late withdrawal of perennial Six Nations wooden spooners Italy from their scheduled two-test tour.

Concerns around the pandemic, the wisdom of travelling to the other side of the world during it and the practical realities of border isolation requirements all combined to put the Azzurri’s visit into the too-hard basket.

Their withdrawal has not been officially confirmed, but Stuff understands NZ Rugby is well advanced in talks around an alternative schedule.

It is looking to pit the All Blacks against Fiji in back-to-back tests and add Samoa to the three-game window to create a special moment in history for the Pasifika nations.

It would be the first time the All Blacks would have played an entire home series against Pacific Islands opposition. The All Blacks last faced Fiji in 2011 in Dunedin and Samoa in 2017 in Auckland ahead of the Lions tour.

The original schedule had the All Blacks hosting Italy twice over the first two Saturdays in July, followed by a single test against Fiji.

Negotiations are ongoing, but NZ Rugby hopes to have something in place for when World Rugby officially unveils its July schedule – headlined by the British and Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa – within the next couple of weeks.

The Pacific theme to the July window might have been forced on NZ Rugby somewhat, with alternatives thin on the ground because of the pandemic and Lions tour, but it fits nicely with its intention to add an Auckland-based Moana Pasifika side and the Fijian Drua to Super Rugby from 2022.

Meanwhile, the Rugby Championship looks set to play out mostly between New Zealand and Australia from August to October, with the possibility of Argentina’s clash against the Springboks taking place outside the trans-Tasman nations.

The Rugby Championship schedule is also set to be unveiled by Sanzaar within the next two weeks.