ABs in Aussie bubble for Rugby Championship?

Rugby Australia (RA) is still confident of locking in a four-test Bledisloe Cup series later this year against the All Blacks and putting its hand up to host a revised Rugby Championship in Australia with teams coming together in a bubble.

Interim RA chief executive Rob Clarke will continue discussions this week with Fox Sports about tweaking this year’s broadcast deal to reflect the content on offer.

While the Australian domestic competition set to begin on July 3 is important, the major money-spinners are the test offerings later in the year on Australian soil, potentially in front of crowds.

As first revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald in April, RA has been in discussions with Sanzaar as well as New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina about hosting the Rugby Championship.

It is unclear exactly how the competition schedule would look but the idea is for all teams to be housed in the one hub and play matches, in front of crowds or not.

The Rugby Championship, which includes two of the three annual Bledisloe Cup fixtures, was initially set to run from August 8 to September 27 before Covid-19 struck.

Australia’s domestic competition, yet to be formally approved, is expected to run until September 19, so test matches could feasibly begin two weeks after that.

Clarke said RA was ‘‘open’’ to playing the Rugby Championship anywhere in Australia.

‘‘Everybody has committed to try and play a full TRC and we’re exploring with the Australian government whether that can be hubbed here in Australia and flying in all of the Sanzaar partners,’’ Clarke said.

‘‘[They would be] in a training bubble and then we can quarantine effectively and then play a competition. That’s what we’re exploring.

‘‘There will be an extended Bledisloe Cup and we’re well advanced in discussions with our New Zealand colleagues on that.’’

The plan is for two Bledisloe Cup matches to be staged in Australia and two in New Zealand.