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. Super Rugby is set to be paused for a bye round to provide for the equitable mid-season release of players, and Super Round would be shifted to a different round in the season.
The Anzac Day Test match – which would be held on the eve of April 25 (a Sunday) in 2027 – would also be the return of a three-Test Bledisloe series, which was reduced to two games in 2022.
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 bellieved 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 the idea of 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.
The New Zealand Herald reported Rennie sees the Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup 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.
The initial NZR opposition was also based on the fact they couldn’t see a path to making money when hosting an Anzac Day Bledisloe Cup Test, given the competitive major event spending done by Australian states is almost non-existent in New Zealand.
The commercial deal between RA and NZR hasn’t yet been agreed but is likely the game will mostly, if not always, be staged in Australia as one of its home Bledisloe Tests.
The massive windfall made by hosting the match in Australia will be equally split.
The NZR now also have the ability to take some All Blacks Tests offshore but given the special nature of the Anzac Day Test, it is not likely this one would be played the US, Asia or Europe.
MORE TO COME
Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
