The All Blacks' quest to win the Bledisloe Cup for a 20th straight year will begin on an unfamiliar day. 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 second Bledisloe Cup test will be played on September 24 at Eden Park, nine days later.

Source: New Zealand Herald April 30, 2022 01:59 UTC