KiwisTonga rematch pencilled in for next year
AUCKLAND: A World Cup rematch between the Kiwis and Tonga will go ahead in New Zealand next year, with the controversial Denver test all but dead and buried.
The New Zealand Rugby League and NRL confirmed yesterday that Mate Ma’a will play Australia at Mt Smart Stadium on October 20, while the Kiwis will host the Pacific Island side next June. The venue and date is still to be confirmed.
The KangaroosTonga test will be played a week after the Kiwis also host Australia at Mt Smart in the endofyear transtasman fixture on October 13.
Next year’s KiwisTonga match will replace the Denver test between the Kiwis and England during the midseason standalone representative weekend.
The Denver test was booked in for another two years but NZRL chief executive Greg Peters confirmed the Kiwis would not be returning to the United States next year and said it was unlikely the 2020 fixture would go ahead.
The NZRL has received less than half of its agreed payment from Denver test promoter Jason Moore and is understood to be owed a sixfigure sum, but faces a battle through the US legal system to recoup the outstanding amount.
‘‘We’re not going to Denver in 2019, I can assure you of that,’’ Peters said.
‘‘We’ve tried to engage with him without success. We’ve reserved all of our rights under the contract and have contractual remedies for breach.
‘‘It’s a US entity that we’re contracted with, so we need to consider our options given some of those challenges.’’
The NRL has agreed to fund the TongaAustralia match and also has a commercial arrangement with the cashstrapped NZRL to support the KiwisTonga fixture.
The NZRL is yet to decide where to stage next year’s KiwisTonga game, but Auckland or Hamilton appear the most likely venues.
Confirmation of both matches involving Tonga on these shores follows a dramatic Uturn from the NZRL, which under its previous administration committed itself to the Denver experiment, despite the obvious demand and interest in staging another KiwisTonga test locally.
The lure of a large cashinjection from the Denver test and plans to promote the 13man game in the US ahead of the 2025 World Cup — which was also set to be bankrolled by Moore — were given as reasons for the Kiwis involvement.
That was before Moore left both the NZRL and RFL in the lurch financially.
Grave doubts now also hang over his ability to fund the next World Cup.
‘‘The strategy of going to Denver was valid at the time,’’ Peters said.
‘‘The disappointing fact is that we weren’t paid and it doesn’t appear that we are going to get paid.
‘‘Is this the game, KiwisTonga, that everyone wants to see? Absolutely, and now we’re delivering it.’’ — NZME