Bledisloe Cup clash on Anzac Day a ‘no-brainer’
The Wallabies and All Blacks clashing in a Bledisloe Cup game around Anzac Day is a “no-brainer” idea that would be a lucrative and prestigious event, according to Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert.
In an interview with the Inside Line podcast, Herbert revived calls for the trans-Tasman rivals to bring a Bledisloe Cup game forward on the calendar to Anzac Day, and cited State of Origin as proof a “flagship event” could be slotted into the Super Rugby schedule.
Herbert’s enthusiasm for an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup fixture came in a wide-ranging podcast interview, where the RA chairman also said the Rebels’ long-term future would be based on financial viability and not performance, played down speculation of the possible return of Argentina’s Jaguares team to Super Rugby, and discussed his concerns about New Zealand’s plans to tour South Africa during the Rugby Championship.
Like NRL and AFL, Super Rugby has an Anzac-themed round this weekend, but no international fixtures have been held since rugby league’s Anzac test ran from 1997 through to 2012. It was mostly played in the weeks before or after April 25.
The idea for an Anzac Day Bledisloe match was pitched by Rugby Australia a decade ago and shot down by New Zealand as too difficult. But with both countries facing major financial challenges – RA will announce a loss for 2023 at next week’s AGM and is battling again this year – Herbert believes rugby needs to embrace bold ideas built around commerciality and entertainment, and let go of “amateur baggage” holding the game back.
“I think it would be a no-brainer. If we could work it out and get the different parties on the page with it, it could be something that rugby has that is a little bit unique,” Herbert said.
“It is not two clubs against one another. It is a long-standing rivalry, but also a longterm partnership, and, recognised through a flagship event like that, we could develop a really big event, a prestigious event around that.
“Rugby league already has State of Origin breaking up the season, so I don’t see why we couldn’t do it other than trying to get the Super Rugby schedule around it, and getting our New Zealand partners onside with it.”
New Zealand Rugby has traditionally been conservative ont embracing major change, and said in 2015 it wouldn’t want to disrupt the Super Rugby season. But after the Covid-19 period proved innovative scheduling can be successful, Herbert said rugby needed to start thinking like commercially driven US sporting bodies.
“People still have deep ties to their teams and their sports, but they know it is a mass-entertainment product,” he said.
“We are half-pregnant sometimes with rugby where we are trying to hold on to the amateur ethos and traditions ... whereas the reality is the professional game is now reliant on those that fund it. So you need to make sure we are building these mass entertainment products.
“That constant battle with tradition is something rugby, given we are only professional less than 30 years, we are still hanging on to a lot of the amateur baggage, in my view. We need to break free of that, and start to look with a clean sheet of paper: how do we build the most commercial, entertaining products we possibly can, to attract the biggest market we can?
“And it’s no secret the sports that are doing this well, they’re working. The NRL are doing some good things, they started to operate like an American-type sport and it’s grown in its commercial appeal.
“Rugby, we love the tradition, we want to hold on to what we can, but we can’t hold on to it so much we choke the opportunity ahead of us.”
Herbert also said Rugby Australia was concerned about New Zealand and South Africa formulating a plan for old-fashioned tours in 2026 and 2031, which would lead to an eight or nine-game tour being played during the Rugby Championship window.
It would mean a truncated Rugby Championship for the Wallabies and Argentina, which would lead to a reduction in the much-relied-upon test revenue. Herbert said Australia would be looking for compensation if it was to approve.