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Grand Slam chance excites Kiwis
24/01/2008 09:14 - (SA)
London - The All Blacks will have the chance to complete a Grand Slam in November if plans announced by the Rugby Football Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union for a Test at Twickenham are given the go-ahead.
This fixture, due to take place on November 29, would give the All Blacks a chance of completing a second Grand Slam - victories against England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales on the one tour - in three years.
But the game is subject to approval from the International Rugby Board as it takes place outside the global governing body's agreed November 'window' for Test matches.
Only two New Zealand sides in history, the 1978 and 2005 teams, have completed a Grand Slam of wins over the four Home Unions.
"This is an exciting addition to the All Blacks' northern hemisphere tour programme," said NZRU chief executive Steve Tew in a joint statement issued by the RFU on Wednesday.
"Not only does it create the opportunity for the All Blacks to pursue a Grand Slam in 2008 against the Rugby World Cup runners-up, but it also provides another opportunity for the many All Blacks fans in the UK and Europe to see and support their team."
World Cup runners-up England's match against the All Blacks would be the final of their four (northern) Autumn internationals.
If given the green light, the sides would compete for a new trophy which according to the statement, reflects "the history of relationships between the two countries."
Both the name and design of the trophy would be announced before this year's England-New Zealand match, the statement added.
England open their November series of matches against the Pacific Islanders, followed on consecutive weekends by Australia and world champions South Africa.
RFU chief executive Francis Baron defended England's decision to arrange a profit-sharing Test against New Zealand.
While the All Blacks will take home a significant portion of the approximate seven million pounds the RFU make from a home Test match, the cash-strapped Pacific Islanders cannot command an appearance fee or slice of the gate receipts.
"We have agreed to play New Zealand on November 29, 2008 and are just waiting on IRB clearance, which we expect to receive some time this week," said Baron.
"Any Test played outside of the IRB official tours window require a voluntary agreement between the two participating unions and all the issues of cost sharing come into it, so you have to agree a financial package.
"We are very proud of our record here. We always provide financial assistance to the Pacific Island teams when they come here. We have helped Samoa and Tonga.
"We haven't had a request from the Pacific Islands yet but if we did get one we would listen to it sympathetically."
All of England's November opponents are now bound by agreements made at the recent Woking international summit in southern England to bring their strongest teams on tour.
Following the debacle of last year's trip to South Africa, when head coach Brian Ashton was down to the bare bones, there has also been an acknowledgement at Twickenham that England must do the same.
"We hope those days, in England and elsewhere, are behind us," said Baron.
"I have great sympathy for the complaints the southern hemisphere has been throwing in the northern hemisphere's direction because they have been suffering the big commercial hit as a result of it.
"We all agreed that we have to protect the value of Test match rugby. If not you will suffer commercially and financially in the long term.
"At Woking, all the countries agreed we have to play tours going both ways and it has to be best teams or it will devalue it."
Fixtures:
All Blacks tour of UK and Ireland:
November 8: Scotland v New Zealand
November 15: Ireland v New Zealand
November 22: Wales v New Zealand
November 29: England v New Zealand (TBC)
England Autumn Internationals:
November 8: England v Pacific Islands
November 15: England v Australia
November 22: England v South Africa
November 29: England v New Zealand (TBC)
- SAPA
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