The remainder of this year’s Rugby Championship will take place in Queensland, Australia, in response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and stricter travel and quarantine regulations in Australia and New Zealand.
The games involving Australia, New Zealand, world champions South Africa and Argentina will now take place at the Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast, Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium and Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville.
There will be no games played in New South Wales (Sydney and Newcastle), the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) or New Zealand (Auckland and Dunedin) as previously scheduled.
Queensland does not have a huge number of COVID-19 cases but the states of New South Wales and Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, are locked down as authorities fight to contain outbreaks of the Delta variant.
New Zealand is under lockdown until August 27 while Auckland, its largest city and the epicentre of the country’s recent outbreak, is under tight restrictions until at least until the end of the month.
SANZAAR CEO Brendan Morris thanked the Queensland Government for offering an environment that will safely allow the completion of the tournament.
“SANZAAR and the national unions are incredibly grateful and will work closely with the states’ health authorities to ensure all bio-security measures are adhered to,” Morris said.
Morris said SANZAAR had explored several options, including moving the tournament to South Africa and even Europe.
There will also be major changes to the tournament’s match schedule with two matches every weekend for the next four weeks.
“We are very excited about this unique format and rugby experience as we look to deliver a month of “Double Headers” with the world’s best players in Queensland, something never done in international rugby before.”
Meanwhile, the outstanding second-round match between Australia and New Zealand, which was due to be played in Perth on August 28, will be played in the same city at Optus Stadium with confirmation of the match date to be announced in the next few days.
(Story compiled with assistance from wire reports)
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
