The Wallabies and All Blacks will meet on Anzac Day in Brisbane next year in a first for the 123-year-old trans-Tasman rivalry.
The on-again, off-again Test match clash was finally confirmed as a starter on Sunday after years of negotiations between Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby, which appeared to have collapsed in 2025 but was revived late last year under new NZR management.
Under a deal with the Queensland government, the clash will be held at Suncorp Stadium on April 25 next year, and again on Anzac Day in 2029 and 2031. The Super Rugby Pacific season will probably include either a bye weekend or a split round.
The plan does not have fixtures booked in for 2028 and 2030, giving scope for New Zealand to host the Anzac Day game in those years.
The 2027 event is also likely to feature a clash between the Wallaroos and Black Ferns women’s sides. The men’s fixture will be the first men’s international played on April 25 between Australia and New Zealand since an Anzac Day rugby league fixture was held in 1997 in the Super League competition.
League’s Anzac Test match ran until 2017, but it was never again held on Anzac Day, and instead was played on a nearby weekend.
The addition of an Anzac Day Bledisloe could also be advantageous for the Wallabies in their bid to win back the famous trophy for the first time since 2002, given the series will also return to three Tests per year.
The Bledisloe Cup was cut back to two Tests in 2021, meaning Australia had to win both games to win the trophy.
The announcement brings to an end a long-running saga that began in 2024, when this masthead revealed RA had pitched the concept to NZR, and the early enthusiasm of the Kiwis for the idea. But the Herald also revealed the subsequent about-face of the NZR, when then-CEO Mark Robinson revealed they did not believe the idea was viable.
RA continued to push for the idea in the background, and they found a more receptive audience when new NZR chairman David Kirk took over later in 2025, and much of the NZR management also changed.
Kirk, the former All Blacks captain who has lived in Sydney for several decades and understands the Australian market, revealed to this masthead in an interview last year that he would take another look at the RA proposal.
A new All Blacks coach in the form of ex-Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was also crucial in the Anzac Bledisloe getting off the ground, with Rennie far more supportive than his predecessor Scott Robertson.
“The eternal bond shared between Australia and New Zealand was forged on the first Anzac Day and, 112 years later, our nations will again unite around a sport that, in the immortal words of Wallabies legend and Gallipoli veteran Tom Richards, provided hope and respite for troops through the ‘dark passages’ of war,” RA boss Phil Waugh said in a statement.
NZR chief executive Steve Lancaster said in a statement: “Playing the Bledisloe Cup on Anzac Day creates a unique trans-Tasman sporting occasion that honours our countries’ shared history and cultures, while bringing people together through rugby.
“Rugby Australia is an important partner for us, and a strong game in Australia is good for rugby in New Zealand. Brisbane has long been seen as a home away from home with a large New Zealand population living there, and we see this as a huge opportunity to work in partnership with Rugby Australia to grow the game in a key market.”
Iain Payten is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
