Long road trip ahead

The All Blacks have their Bledisloe blinkers on, but they’re also not blind to what’s going on in the world and are already mulling the possibility that they could be about to embark on the road trip from hell.

So far there are only three fixtures locked in for the Bledisloe and Rugby Championship after the recent pause to the trans-Tasman travel bubble put a major spanner in the works of the southern hemisphere’s flagship test rugby competition.

The All Backs host the Wallabies in back-to-back tests at Eden Park in Auckland on the next two Saturdays.

Then the two squads will cross the Tasman for their third and final Bledisloe in Perth on August 28.

After that it all gets just a little murky as Australia battles with community Covid outbreaks and state-wide lockdowns, and the travel bubble remains paused until at least the middle of September.

As it stands, New Zealand Rugby has conceded it will have to play its two tests against Argentina (originally scheduled for September 11 and 18 in Auckland and Wellington respectively) in Australia.

Details of when and where those matches will be played are unclear.

Both Argentina and South Africa are committed to undertaking their managed isolation in Australia, and while the travel bubble pause remains in place they, the All Blacks and Wallabies, will effectively be forced to play out the competition that side of the Tasman.

NZ Rugby remains optimistic that Australia’s battle with Covid will turn in time for the bubble pause to be lifted around September 17, allowing the All Blacks and Springboks to cross the Tasman for their matches in Dunedin on September 25 and

Auckland on October 2.

‘‘They’ve signalled that it should lift, all going well, on September 17, so that means the Springboks and All Blacks can come back into the country soon after and prepare for a full week in Dunedin.

‘‘That’s what we’re working towards at the moment,’’ NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said.

But that’s blue sky thinking, for sure. The New Zealand Government is unlikely to reopen the bubble while there is community transmission in Australia, and right now eradication seems like a long way off.

New South Wales just experienced its worst day of transmission.

So that raises the realistic prospect of the All Blacks having to remain in Australia to play out the Rugby Championship through until early October.

They are then due to open their fivetest northern tour with that add-on clash against USA in Washington DC on October 23.

Given MIQ requirements on return to New Zealand, it’s likely they would head straight to the US from Australia.

It’s a scenario experienced All Blacks, and family men, Ardie Savea and Codie Taylor both acknowledged ahead of tonight’s Bledisloe Cup opener against the Wallabies at Eden Park.

Both put their brave faces on in terms of the prospect of spending three and a half months on the road, away from their families, though Savea made it clear that it would be a prospect that would not go down well in his home.

Experienced halfback TJ Perenara is back in the All Blacks squad ahead of schedule, whistled up as injury cover for injured Blues and Tasman No 9 Finlay Christie.