Following our speculation a week ago here on Howzit-HongKong, the Australian Rugby Union has confirmed that a Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup clash is a thing of the past.

The Bledisloe Cup will not be played in Asia in the short term after the revamp of the Australia-New Zealand series into a three Test match series over the next 10 years, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Thursday.

A trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup has been staged in Hong Kong (2008, 2010) and Tokyo (2009) over the last three years.

Last year’s Test in Hong Kong was tarnished by a lower than expected turnout with just 26 000 paying to watch the action in the 40 000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium.

Now that a decision has been made between the New Zealand Rugby Union and ARU to stage an additional Test each year between the two countries there was no room for a Bledisloe Cup game in Asia, the ARU said.

“In the short term ARU will not be looking to host its additional Bledisloe Cup Test in venues outside of Australia,” an ARU spokesperson confirmed.

                                     The All Blacks show off the Bledisloe Cup at the HK Stadium (Pic: The Telegraph)

The third Bledisloe Cup Test each year will alternate between Australia and New Zealand and be played at the conclusion of the expanded Four Nations tournament also featuring South Africa and Argentina, getting under way next year, the ARU said.

(Source: AFP)

Bledisloe Cup 2010: HK Fans’ Day

The New Zealand All Blacks has played Australia’s Wallabies in Hong Kong on two occasions as part of the Bledisloe Cup.  Sadly it seems that 2010 was the last year local fans of the two Antipodean rugby greats will have seen a Bledisloe match played in the SAR.

The All Blacks and Wallabies will contest the Bledisloe Cup over three Tests under a revamped format to take effect in 2012, the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions announced Saturday.

The new arrangement replaces the present system where the Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman rugby supremacy, is contested as part of the Tri-Nations tournament which also involves South Africa.

From next year, the third and possibly deciding match will be hosted alternately between the two countries, following their home and away clashes in the Tri-Nations.

The first additional Bledisloe Cup Test will be hosted by Australia in October 2012 and there are no plans to take it to a neutral venue as has happened in recent years.

Hong Kong fans pose with some players and the Bledisloe Cup (Pic: Mike Jansen 2010)

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said the additional Test was part of a new All Blacks schedule which includes three Tests in June, the expanded Tri-Nations which takes in Argentina from 2012, and the end of year northern hemisphere tour.

“Our expectation, supported by feedback from our fans, is that a three-match Bledisloe Cup Series will be keenly followed and fits well into our season,” Tew said.

Fan research in both Australia and New Zealand supported the Bledisloe Cup being contested over a three-match series, rather than two as it was for many years prior to the expansion of the Tri Nations, Tew added.

Mike Jansen took the following pictures at last year’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Hong Kong:

(1) The Fan Day

(2) Match Day

(3) Bledisloe Cup: Hong Kong 2008

One of the pleasures of watching the action at the Karp Group/PC Jeweller Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is seeing the ball fly over the stands and into the adjacent roads, the roof of the club-house or even the Kowloon Cricket Club pool.  The likelihood of that happening several times over has increased with news that the Australian side has drafted the big-hitting David Warner (pictured right) to their squad.

Left-handed dynamo Warner has been called up to replace the injured Daniel Christian and will be a powerful addition to the team bidding to win its first Hong Kong title.

Warner, 23, made history when he was picked to represent Australia in 2008 in a Twenty20 game against South Africa despite not having played a single game of first-class cricket. He was the first player to do so in 132 years. He made a stunning debut and went on to represent Australia at the Twenty20 World .

“We are delighted he is coming,” said Dinesh Tandon, Hong Kong Cricket Association chairman. “He is one of the biggest hitters in the game and fans will be well entertained.”

Warner is not a stranger to Hong Kong having played in this tournament two years ago when Australia reached the final, only to lose to England in a tied game. England won by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

With Warner back in the team, Australia will be a force to reckon with but fans will also have to watch out for young guns Ryan Carters (20 years), Tom Cooper (23) and Glenn Maxwell (21) to produce the fireworks with all three having played in the recent Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa.

In addition, 20-year-old Tim Armstrong was a member of the victorious Australian Under-19 World Cup squad earlier this year.

The team will be coached once again by former international player John Davison who is also senior coach with Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence.

“It’s an enjoyable tournament to be involved with and something a little different for the players which I’m sure they will enjoy,” said Davison, who is also the CA Centre of Excellence spin bowling coach.

“Although we have a pretty young squad we have some players with good experience including some with international experience or exposure so I’m sure that will hold them in good stead.

“The tournament is short and sweet but it’s a challenging format that most players have probably not played before so it should be good fun for them,” Davison added.

Australia are pooled in the preliminary Bradman group with arch-rivals England, South Africa and Hong Kong. The Sobers pool comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

A total prize money of US$150,000 is up for grabs and Australia will be hoping to winits first title. They came close two years ago when they were defeated by England in a thriller where the scores were tied at the end, and England edging through by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

The Australian side for the tournament is:

Tim Armstrong (New South Wales), Ryan Carters (Victoria), David Warner (New South Wales), Tom Cooper (South Australia), Matthew Johnston (Western Australia), Glenn Maxwell (Victoria), Will Sheridan (Victoria).

Despite only arriving in the city this morning, the New Zealand All Blacks met their fans at the very first DHL Hong Kong 2010 Bledisloe Cup Fans Day.  Their Australian rivals who arrived yesterday also made time to pose for pictures and hand out autographs ahead of the third-ever Bledisloe Cup clash on neutral soil.

For both sides, the HK stopover will be match 1 of their respective end-of-year European Tours that come after an arduous domestic and international season of Super 14 and Tri-Nations tournaments.  Some of the players also played in the championship Sevens match of the Delhi Commonwealth Games only a few days ago, where New Zealand walked away with the Gold Medal and Australia won Silver.  

A busy week of practice sessions and media engagements await both teams for the rest of the week before they clash in the DHL Hong Kong 2010 Bledisloe Cup at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday.

Word is that some 25 000 tickets have been sold thus far and while it means the Stadium may only be half-full come Saturday, the respective teams have promised nothing less than a test-match quality game.

“There is no such thing as a dead rubber between the All Blacks and Wallabies,” New Zealand coach Graham Henry reiterated in a tele-conference last week.

Fans who want to attend the match can still book their tickets at HKTicketing.

Kick-off is at 4:30pm

Here are some of the images I took at So Kon Po earlier today:

Bledisloe Cup: unseen footage.

Depending how close you are to breakfast/lunch/dinner time, maybe that should read “not to be seen footage“!

Our pals over at RugbyAsia Channel takes us “behind the scenes at a Bledisloe Cup” game.

Before we show you, here’s a reminder:

Hong Kong will host one of world rugby’s great contests in October when the All Blacks and the Wallabies battle for the Bledisloe Cup at the Hong Kong Stadium.

The match will be played on Saturday, October 30, kicking off at 4.30pm local time.

Tickets are available through HKTicketing

With their Hong Kong clash doubling as the final preparation for the traditional end-of-year tour, both New Zealand and Australia are set to make the third-ever Bledisloe Cup match to be played on neutral soil a “ferocious” one.

New Zealand Rugby Union CEO Steve Tew said, “Both the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions are fully supportive of the Hong Kong fixture and are committed to bringing one of world rugby’s legendary matches back to Asia. The upcoming end of year tour is vital for both teams going into 2011 and I know the All Blacks will be looking to put in a strong performance to kick off their tour on the back of a successful Tri Nations campaign.”

After New Zealand’s last gasp 23-22 victory last week in Sydney, both teams have everything to play for as they finalize their preparations for their tours of the northern hemisphere. On October 30, spectators will be treated to some ferocious on-pitch action amid the famous rugby atmosphere of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Stadium.

ARU Managing Director and CEO John O’Neill concurred: “The quality of Rugby in this year’s Bledisloe Cup series has been outstanding. These are the best two teams in world Rugby and the one-point separating them in Sydney last Saturday night underlines the closeness of the contest.

There is also no doubt that the game, as it is currently being played in the Southern Hemisphere, is as exciting as it has been at any other time in memory. At the international level there has been a plethora of tries and consistently scintillating attacking Rugby.

However, the ferocity of the trans-Tasman matches has not been compromised whatsoever. We’re confident the match in Hong Kong will be another entertainment package no sporting fan would want to miss.”

Trevor Gregory, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) said, “The HKRFU and thousands of sports fans in Hong Kong and around the region are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the teams and we look forward to welcoming them with Hong Kong’s famous hospitality.

With the world’s two top ranked teams set to contest the latest match in their century-old rivalry, the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong promises to be another historic moment in Hong Kong rugby and I encourage people to get their tickets today.”

To date, over 14,000 tickets have been sold for the 40,000-seater Hong Kong Stadium and sales are expected to increase in the coming weeks. The HKRFU has confirmed that a sponsorship announcement will be made soon, reinforcing the strong interest in the region in the Bledisloe Cup Hong Kong match.

Tickets are available through HKTicketing

The Springboks’ last minute loss to the Wallabies in the hosts’ final Tri-Nations encounter on Saturday evening made the Sunday Morning Post‘s sports-pages on Sunday.

With Hong Kong again hosting the final Bledisloe Cup match in October this year (the previous such match took place in 2008) there is renewed interest in the Southern Hemisphere’s premier competition, the Tri-Nations.

In fact, with Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup ticket sales reported to be sluggish this year (in part due to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year) the Hong Kong rugby authorities are pinning their hopes on the Wallabies beating their Trans-Tasman opponents in next week’s final Tri-Nations encounter.  This, they hope, would make the third-ever Bledisloe Cup to be played on neutral ground more of a contest with the All Blacks having totally dominated the Tri-Nations this year.

Bruce Fowler from the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) is inviting all Springbok rugby supporters in Hong Kong to watch Victor Matfield celebrate his 100th Rugby Test today (Saturday August 28, 2010).

The Blue Bulls’ Matfield will become only the third-ever Springbok Rugby player to achieve this milestone after John Smit last week (number 2) and Western Province’s Percy Montgomery (number 1).

The Springboks will play Australia in their penultimate Tri-Nations Test at Loftus Verfeld later today.

South Africans in Hong Kong are urged to head to the ironically Aussie-themed WoolooMooloo Restaurant in Central.

WoolooMooloo is also the workplace of Bruce’s girlfriend so needless to say happy hour prices will probably prevail.   Just turn up will you?!

Tri-Nations Rugby: South Africa vs Australia

Saturday, 28th August at 11pm.

WoolooMooloo Steakhouse, Ground Floor, Onfem Tower, 29 Wyndham Street, Central.

Bok Centurion No.3 with Number 1 Percy Montgomery

With yet another convincing win over trans-Tasman rivals Australia, New Zealand’s All Blacks retained the 2010 Bledisloe Cup (20-10).

The win in Christchurch (New Zealand) came after a 49-28 drubbing in Melbourne (Australia) a week before.

While there are still two matches to be played (Sydney September 11 and Hong Kong October 30), the All Blacks have wrapped up the 2010 contest in fine form.

This begs the question:

Will Bledisloe Cup #4 at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday October 30 be a boring affairs with the two teams simply going through the motions in preparation for their respective Northern Hemisphere Tours?

Yes, they will be going through the motions, but we suspect it will be anything but a boring affair.

For one, the Hong Kong leg will again serve as preparation for their Northern Hemisphere tours and the players will want to do everything they can to impress the selectors in order to feature in their respective starting line-ups for the Northern tour.

Secondly, when the two Antipodian sides last clashed in the SAR in 2008, the same situation existed with New Zealand again claiming the honours before a ball was even kicked at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po.  On that day, the Cup holders also took the honours (19-14).  Despite New Zealand lining up as Cup Champions in 2008, the HKRFU recorded an almost full-house and we predict the same will happen come October  30.

Hong Kong is a city with thousands of expatriates plying their trade in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and a large majority hail from Down Under.  Coupled with that the fact that overall, most expats come from the UK (due to historical reasons) and you have potentially at least half of the HK Stadium capacity (20,000) who will buy tickets.  Due to it’s Sevens reputation as a great party destination and it’s relative proximity to Australia and New Zealand, many supporters from Down Under will also choose to follow their sides to Hong Kong, further swelling the gate takings in So Kon Po.

While the tickets are not cheap (the most expensive category ticket will set you back almost the same as a 3-day pass for the HK Sevens at HK$1,250) most rugby fans in Hong Kong are so starved of top-class rugby that they will easily pay up. The two lower categories are selling for HK$1,000 and HK$880 respectively.

Needless to say, Howzit-HongKong.com will bring you all the action from Bledisloe #4… Live from Hong Kong.

Stay close.

Saturday evening, October 30 will find Howzit-HongKong.com no where else but at Mes Amis in WanChai. Kevin Lewis captured the 2008 fun and music at this popular watering hole in the City’s premier party district.  This is how we party in Hong Kong!

Two years ago I attended the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match (New Zealand vs. Australia) to be played outside of these two countries.

The match, in terms of interest and exposure for the two brands, was a resounding success and last year the powers-that-be decided to try that experiment on Japanese soil.  I don’t know whether the New Zealand and Australian rugby boards were not impressed with their Japan outreach experiment, but thanks be to the rugby-gods that they decided to return the final match of the Bledisloe Cup series here in Hong Kong.

With the addition of the Hong Kong match, the Bledisloe Cup will be decided over four Tests in 2010.

Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to meet three times as part of the Tri-Nations Series and then contest the fourth and final match in Hong Kong.

The 2010 Bledisloe Cup Series

Match 1: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (July 31)

Match 2: AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Aug 7)

Match 3: ANZ Stadium, Sydney (September 11)

Match 4: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong (October 30)

Tickets

SA Association

Last I heard, the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) received another ticket allocation this year.  Please contact the SAAHK’s Bruce Fowler for more information.

Hong Kong Public Sales

From 2nd August onwards (10:00am) residents in Hong Kong (Hong Kong ID Card holders) will be able to purchase tickets through HK Ticketing online: www.hkticketing.com , by phone : +852 31 288 288 or at HK Ticketing Outlets including Box Offices and Tom Lee Music Stores.

For further details, please go to www.hkticketing.com

Pricing

The entire stadium will be reserved seating. Customers will be able to choose from and reserve the available seats in the stadium and a range of price options will apply depending on the location of the seats. Tickets are priced at HK$1,250, HK$1,000 and HK$880.

Bledisloe Cup

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Kick off at 4.30pm HKT (7.30pm AEDT; 9.30pm NZT).

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong:

Click here to visit the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong website