Scaling back Tests
AUSTRALIA’S fierce rivalry with the All Blacks will be scaled back to two Tests each year from three, officials said on Friday, as the Wallabies seek to play other countries.
The rugby powerhouses have contested a best-of-three trans-tasman series, the Bledisloe Cup, every year since 2006.
Rugby Australia boss Andy Marinos said the decision would allow the Wallabies – who have not lifted the trophy since 2003 – to play other nations.
“We need to manage and prioritise how we’re going to go to the (2023) World Cup and then we have a (British and Irish) Lions year in 2025, which is also another consideration,” he said.
The decision comes at a time when Fiji has joined a new-look 12-team Super Rugby Pacific competition.
SPECIAL balls that reverse swing and a tricked-up MCG practice pitch designed to spin have been among the training methods Australia’s Test stars have been using to prepare for their first tour of Pakistan since 1998.
As he and the squad prepared to board a charter flight for Pakistan on Saturday, Test captain Pat Cummins said clear air since the departure of Justin Langer had allowed players to dial in their focus on dealing with the cricketing unknowns ahead of them.
Security fears have been allayed, with the players to be shadowed by members of the Pakistan army from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave, and Cummins said everyone was just “keen as mustard” for Australia’s first Test tour since the 2019 Ashes.
During a training camp in Melbourne this week, preparation has included batters facing bowlers producing reverse swing, which Cummins said could be “a weapon” in Pakistan, using special balls that were half red and half white.
“Normally you fly in (to a foreign country) and have a couple of weeks in a place, which has its pros. Also has its cons,” Cummins said.
“Being able to spend a bit more time in Australia we’ll fly in, be fresh, and if we can replicate similar conditions to what we might expect over there we can literally land in a couple of days and be up to speed.
“We had a spin bowling net, we practised a lot of reverse swing bowling which can come into it in Pakistan. The way you have to play spin and face reverse swing bowling, it can be quite different to what you might experience in a traditional Australian summer.
“It’s a bit of fun, we like seeing new things and trying new things.
“It’s the reality of playing over there. A lot of time the ball just reverse swings.
“We didn’t really experience it this summer with short games, grassy wickets. Over there it can be a real weapon. (We are) just trying to upskill that.
“We haven’t bowled a lot of reverse swing lately but it’s a huge factor going to the subcontinent.”
Cummins, on his first overseas tour as captain and just his second in charge, said he had been leaning heavily on vice-captain Steve Smith.