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Bledisloe Cup - Format

What’s your preferable Bledisloe cup format?

  • Current format - 3/4 games

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Played for every two years

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

Oliver Madden

Academy Player
Joined
Jun 20, 2018
Messages
339
So after the game yesterday The All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe for an 18th year in a row. So we've got a dead rubber Bledisloe yet again next weekend. In the last 18 years the Bledisloe has only gone to a decider 3 times, all of those have been in world cup years when the Cup has only been contested over two games and the All Blacks haven't minded losing the away game because they've known that a home win would retain it.

The Bledisloe has gone stale and it needs a shake-up. My personal preference would be for it to be played for every other year and not annually. If it has to be played annually i think it should be reduced to a one-off match with home advantage alternating between Aus and NZ. This could be easily done within the current Rugby Championship schedule. It would make it far more interesting if only one of the RC games counted towards the Bledisloe and not both. I would also bin the back to back games between the two teams, I've never been a fan of those. I would have the Bledisloe match in round 5 or 6 of the RC so at least there's some interest in it until the end. The current format is a disaster.
 
Just have it as part of the Tri Nations (/rugby championship), be that a one off or a home and away, depending on tournament format.
Shoe horning these extra games in just removes all interest/what makes it special.
 
I like it being best of 3 games. 2 in a world cup year.

I'm still blindly hoping Oz will improve and make it more exciting again. When I was a kid it was massive!

Seems a bit harsh to just decide one year that Australia isn't worthy of playing the ABs best of 3. If NZ make that call they will be labeled arrogant and if Oz do they will be called defeatist.

Also isn't it only 4 this year because of covid quarantine?
 
It should never be two games, it's too hard for the challenger to win both, or if it's 4 they have to win 3. You could have bonus points or points differential but that would be dumb.

So it needs to be an odd number. I think it needs to be every year because Australians will have become distacted by something else if they have to wait two years. One year is still a long time when you are the challenger and you are waiting for your chance.

I actually like it not being part of the rugby championship.

and I also think it should be special, and hard to win but not too hard. I think like the ranfurly shield you should have to win away from home to take it off the holder.

so one game at the home of the holder before the rc.
 
I like the good ol' 2 out of 3 (if necessary) format.
 
too many games for me, make it like the Ranfurly shield, only on the line for home games, but this year they might have won it back in wellington and then we could win it back with these two games, just adds a little something
 
Well just a suggestion for Rugby Australia, play a Bledisloe Cup game at Suncorp every year. The AB's just can't seem to get many results there. Over the last decade the results have been:
2011 - Wallabies 25-20
2012 - Draw 18-18
2014 - All Blacks 29-28
2017 - Wallabies 23-18
2020 - Wallabies 24-22

Its just bizarre how the All Blacks struggle so much there. Dare I say Is Suncorp the new Ellis Park for the AB's?.
 
Well just a suggestion for Rugby Australia, play a Bledisloe Cup game at Suncorp every year. The AB's just can't seem to get many results there. Over the last decade the results have been:
2011 - Wallabies 25-20
2012 - Draw 18-18
2014 - All Blacks 29-28
2017 - Wallabies 23-18
2020 - Wallabies 24-22

Its just bizarre how the All Blacks struggle so much there. Dare I say Is Suncorp the new Ellis Park for the AB's?.
More evidence RA are their own worst enemy, didn't the sign a ten year deal to always have the first home bledisloe game In Sydney...so Suncorp games are often dead rubbers
 
More evidence RA are their own worst enemy, didn't the sign a ten year deal to always have the first home bledisloe game In Sydney...so Suncorp games are often dead rubbers
They did but I think the Sydney deal expires next year, the Australia Bledisloe is in Perth next year I believe. Then I'm pretty sure Melbourne is hosting a Bledisloe match in 2022 so the Sydney Bledisloe test may be history for a few years. The only defence for RA would be that when that deal was signed which was about 10 years ago the All Blacks had a poor record at ANZ so at the time it probably made sense. Obviously in the last 10 years the AB's have won most of the games in Sydney by huge margins.

Having looked it up the Sydney deal indeed expires next year. That ties in with the suspected revamp of the rugby championship schedule.
 
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They did but I think the Sydney deal expires next year, the Australia Bledisloe is in Perth next year I believe. Then I'm pretty sure Melbourne is hosting a Bledisloe match in 2022 so the Sydney Bledisloe test may be history for a few years. The only defence for RA would be that when that deal was signed which was about 10 years ago the All Blacks had a poor record at ANZ so at the time it probably made sense. Obviously in the last 10 years the AB's have won most of the games in Sydney by huge margins.

Having looked it up the Sydney deal indeed expires next year. That ties in with the suspected revamp of the rugby championship schedule.

that might be wishful thinking, NZ had won two of the previous three games at ANZ/Telstra...i think they just took the money

either way, hopefully your right and they can move it about form next year, get people interesting in rugby again
 
Problem with 3 or more games is that it if NZ win too often as has happened recently it puts off fans. Nobody wants to go to a game they know they will probably lose let alone 3 or more. Yes Australia need to be more competitive but playing multiple games just reinforces the gap and creates a lot of negativity for the losing (Australian) side. Australian rugby already had issues with fans and other sports being more popular before covid. Constantly being beaten multiple times by NZ isn't going to help that.
 
Problem with 3 or more games is that it if NZ win too often as has happened recently it puts off fans. Nobody wants to go to a game they know they will probably lose let alone 3 or more. Yes Australia need to be more competitive but playing multiple games just reinforces the gap and creates a lot of negativity for the losing (Australian) side. Australian rugby already had issues with fans and other sports being more popular before covid. Constantly being beaten multiple times by NZ isn't going to help that.
i mean, they won on the weekend and drew in Nz a few weeks before, i think more games at suncorp or perth might help them get some confidence up.

4 games this year is a bit stupid but mainly a result f the two bledisloe games in nz were announced before the tri nations were sorted

I think we either need to have no "extra" games, so only ones already arranged as part of the RC or only special ones, one special even game, maybe at a neutral location, winner takes all
 
i mean, they won on the weekend and drew in Nz a few weeks before, i think more games at suncorp or perth might help them get some confidence up.

4 games this year is a bit stupid but mainly a result f the two bledisloe games in nz were announced before the tri nations were sorted

I think we either need to have no "extra" games, so only ones already arranged as part of the RC or only special ones, one special even game, maybe at a neutral location, winner takes all
Ok looking backwards

2020 Aus: W1 L2 D1, F:52 A:108
2019 Aus: W1 L1, F:47 A:62
2018 Aus: L3, F:45 A:115
2017 Aus: W1 L2, F:86 A:107
2016 Aus: L3, F:27 A:108

That's the last 5 years and Australia are winning less than 1 game a year on average. Also apart from 2019 where there were 2 games they are shipping over 100 points a year at an average of 33.3 pints a game. On the flip side they are scoring on average 17.1 points a game. That's a huge margin and only in 2017 did they come close to matching NZ. Also looking back their wins are either at home only or in the final game when they have already lost the trophy. The further back I look the stats look pretty similar or worse. Maybe if they had won the trophy once or twice there would be some positivity, but winning or drawing the odd game, but still losing the trophy every year is not much of a consolation. If you had watched the bledisloe as an Aussie fan for the last 18 years you surely have to wonder what is the point.
 
youre right...Aussie rugby should just give up, what are you suggesting other than that?

lets not forget until the last couple of years this poor aussie for also coincided with arguably the best AB's teams ever, but thats changing
 
No of course not, but playing multiple times and often losing does affect interest from fans. It needs to change and hoping Australia become competitive is not reliable.
 
have you suggested what format you think would work, i might have missed it
 
As a tired Aussie fan - one game a year thanks.

My dream is a 6 nations - SA, Arg, AB, Fiji, Aus, Japan. Each team plays each other once - alternating country by year (Bled/6N game between Aus and ABs is the same match).

Then a tour from a Northern team - and a tour of the north.

I dare say Japan and Fiji will do better than Italy have in the 6 nations. Would be roughly a billion times better than all the nonsense of the last 10 years.
 
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As a tired Aussie fan - one game a year thanks.

My dream is a 6 nations - SA, Arg, AB, Fiji, Aus, Japan. Each team plays each other once - alternating country by year (Bled/6N game between Aus and ABs is the same match).

Then a tour from a Northern team - and a tour of the north.

I dare say Japan and Fiji will do better than Italy have in the 6 nations. Would be roughly a billion times better than all the nonsense of the last 10 years.
I'd be happy with that, bring a bit of rarity back to these games, an event
 

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