The Sports Corner

Australia and New Zealand to clash in Hong Kong

The fourth and final game of this year’s Bledisloe Cup will be played on neutral ground in Hong Kong this Saturday.

Both the Wallabies and All Blacks are enroute to end the season of European tours and the game promises to see a lot of lateral thinking by both coaches preparing their squads for their respective tours.

The game has already been a huge marketing success with the event sold out days after tickets were released.

It is expected a crowd of over 40,000 will watch the game live and has raised interest in holding Bledisloe Cup games in other counties in the future. ARU Chairman John O’Neill,  who pushed for the fourth Bledisloe encounter, is already talking of future games in Denver, Tokyo and possibly London.

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans called the Hong Kong match “a great initiative on every front really”.

“It’s good for the game,” he said. “There is a lot of enthusiasm for rugby in Asia and I think that’s part of the responsibility to the game, is to spread the gospel and to expose people to a live experience.

“There’s been a lot of Sevens observed here over the years, but this is totally different and probably evident firstly through the Fijians, who thrive at Sevens but haven’t mastered fifteens yet.

“And I think you will get an insight into that on Saturday when people get the first opportunity to see live a Bledisloe Cup fixture. And there will be passion, there will be intensity. There is no love lost between these nations.” 

Deans has named debutant David Pocock on the bench and has elected to maintain his centre pairing of Stirling Mortlock and Ryan Cross, despite the return of versatile Berrick Barnes who will start on the bench in his return from injury.

Several injuries to the forwards have forced Deans to dress players out of position with lock Dean Mumm playing on the blindside flank, Richard Brown taking over at #8 and Mark Chisolm coming into the second row with Nathan Sharpe.  

The All Blacks lineup remains almost unchanged from the team which has already retained the 2008 Bledisloe Cup. All Blacks coach Graham Henry has opted to move superstar Daniel Carter from his favoured flyhalf position to inside centre allowing Stephen Donald to start.

The move is undoubtedly to prepare Donald to take over duties whilst Carter takes up a lucrative French contract and is unavailable for selection.