All Blacks & Wallabies confirmed for rare midweek Bledisloe Cup clash

The All Blacks' quest to win the Bledisloe Cup for a 20th straight year will begin on an unfamiliar day, it has been confirmed.

As reported last week, the first match in the two-test series will take place on Thursday, September 15, with a potential clash with the NRL and AFL finals prompting the move.

Melbourne's Marvel Stadium will host the test, which will be the first Bledisloe Cup match played in a midweek slot since 1994, when Wallabies halfback George Gregan made a famous match-winning tackle on All Blacks wing Jeff Wilson in the dying moments.

The match was initially intended to be played on a Saturday night.

The encounter at Marvel Stadium will mark the return of the All Blacks to Melbourne for the first time since 2010. The city will also host a Bledisloe Cup test next year.

The shift was necessitated by changes made this year to the Rugby Championship schedule, with the traditional two Bledisloe Cup tests moved from their normal August window to mid-September.

That caused a clash with Australia's other oval-ball codes, with the NRL and AFL both staging finals matches during the month. The clash was exacerbated by the Bledisloe Cup test being played in Melbourne, with Rugby Australia contractually locked in to the city after Covid-19 restrictions prevented a deal to play there in 2020.

The original September 17 date will play host to the AFL preliminary final at the MCG, potentially featuring the Melbourne Demons, while an NRL semifinal on September 19 could see the Melbourne Storm playing at AAMI Park.

Such a sport-packed weekend in the Victorian capital prompted concerns among rugby officials about both ticket sales and local fan interest.

Both the All Blacks and the Wallabies have the previous weekend off so there will be no concern about a tight turnaround for the players. The second Bledisloe Cup test will be played on September 24 at Eden Park, nine days later.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission