Anzac Bledisloe finally set for green light after crucial Rennie support

Support from former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was a key factor in New Zealand Rugby doing an about-face on the staging of an historic Bledisloe Cup clash on Anzac Day, which is set to be launched next year.

After years of negotiation and apparent dead ends, the much-discussed concept has been successfully revived and is set to become a reality in 2027 on Thursday. After board meetings around the New Zealand Rugby annual general meeting, the NZR are expected to officially endorse the unprecedented Test match between the Wallabies and the All Backs in April next year.

It is likely to be held in either Brisbane or Perth, given Sydney and Melbourne already have Anzac Day fixtures in the NRL and AFL, but Adelaide could also be in the mix. Brisbane is the early favourite for the 2027 launch event and informed sources say the two teams have already been scoping out training facilities.

Super Round would be shifted from the Anzac Day long weekend to a different round in the season, and it would also mean the return of a three-Test Bledisloe series, which was reduced to two games in 2022.

Details are still some way off about how the Anzac Day Test would actually work in the calendar, but Super Rugby is likely to be paused for at least one round to provide for equitable mid-season release of players. It’s unclear if players would need to miss a competition round as well, like State of Origin, for a longer preparation.

Anzac Day in 2027 is on a Sunday but in 2028-29, it falls on the trickier days of Tuesday and Wednesday.

It is also likely to be staged as a double-header, with a Wallaroos-Black Ferns Test also played on the same day. The teams played a O’Reilly Cup Test match on Anzac Day last month, and the game proved popular, drawing almost 6000 people in rainy conditions on the Sunshine Coast and a reach of 887,000 viewers on Channel Nine.

This masthead revealed in April 2024 that Rugby Australia had pitched the concept of an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup, and also revealed later in the year that the NZR were supportive of the concept.

“You want to be able to lock it in and make it a real tradition,” then NZR CEO Mark Robinson said.

But six months later Robinson declared the Kiwis would not be backing it, telling this masthead the Kiwis believed the idea was “not viable”.

RA bosses Phil Waugh and Daniel Herbert continued to push for the game, however, and they found a more willing ear when new NZR chairman David Kirk took office last year. Sweeping change in the NZR also occurred at the same time, with Robinson departing as CEO, and a new executive team and new board also coming in.

Kirk told this masthead in September 2025 that he and the NZR would take another look at the concept, leading to a revival of active negotiations.

Crucially – and uncharacteristically – the NZR also sacked All Blacks coach Scott Robertson in January; the first New Zealand national coach to be unwillingly ousted since John Mitchell in 2003.

Robertson was an influential voice in opposing an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup, according to informed sources. But when Rennie was appointed in March, sources say the former Wallabies coach was far more receptive to playing a Test against his old team in April.

A New Zealand Herald report said Rennie sees the mid-season clash as valuable for the All Blacks in an intensified preparation for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

The NZR board will meet ahead of the NZR AGM on Thursday. A deal is some way off, however, given the exact size and shape of Super Rugby in 2027 is yet to be determined.

Moana Pasifika’s future is still uncertain, given its current owners are walking away. A new ownership consortium has expressed interest in buying the licence from the NZR but no deal has been done.

Waratahs coach Dan McKellar backed the concept.

“We’ve got to park our own agendas, and not be selfish,” McKellar said. “Rugby union needs to grow, it needs to think outside the square. And if it means an Anzac Test in front of 100,000 people at Accor Stadium and we’re down a couple of players for a week, as other teams will be as well, you need to park that and think what’s best for the game.

“It would be an unbelievable spectacle and I would be all for it. It’s in other codes if you look at State of Origin and the impact that has on clubs throughout a much longer period. So for a week or two, you’ve just got to understand that the pros far outweigh the cons.”

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