SANZAR have announced the draw for the 2014 Rugby Championship

Apr 16 • General News, International, Rugby Championship News, The Rugby Championship • 2441 Views • Comments Off on SANZAR have announced the draw for the 2014 Rugby Championship

SANZAR have announced the draw for the 2014 Rugby Championship which will start on the 16th of August when Australia host New Zealand in Sydney.

The 2014 Super Rugby season ends on August the 2nd and then the Southern Hemisphere’s best players will get the weekend of August the 9th off and then the Rugby Championship starts a week later on the 16th.

The 2014 Rugby Championship season features a repeat of the 2013 season as the All Blacks final game is against the Springboks in Johannesburg and Australia finish in Argentina as they did this year.

SANZAR CEO Greg Peters said that he was looking forward to watching the top three ranked resume their rivalry in 2014.

“As New Zealand, Australia and South Africa end their European Tours as the world’s top three nations and with Argentina entrenched inside the top 10, The Rugby Championship continues to pit the best against the best,” said Peters.

“We couldn’t have hoped for a more thrilling culmination to this year’s edition of The Rugby Championship and 2014 promises to up the ante with the gap between champions and challengers narrowing with each contest.

“We look forward to delivering The Rugby Championship to a new market in New Zealand with Napier’s McLean Park scheduled to host New Zealand and Argentina while the Gold Coast returns to the Australian rotation with the Wallabies and Pumas scheduled to do battle at Skilled Park on September 13.”

McLean Park will become the 27th stadium overall and the eighth in New Zealand to host a match in The Rugby Championship/Tri-Nations history.

The 22,000-seat venue staged two matches as part of Rugby World Cup 2011 and will welcome the All Blacks for just the second time, the first being a 51-10 win over Samoa in 1996.

Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium will host the third Bledisloe Cup clash between Australia and New Zealand on October 18, which is not part of The Rugby Championship schedule.

Kick-off times will be confirmed in early 2014, as will venues for Argentina’s home matches which are still subject to UAR approval.

2014 Rugby Championship Dates
16 August Australia v New Zealand ANZ Stadium, Sydney
16 August South Africa v Argentina Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
23 August New Zealand v Australia Eden Park, Auckland
23 August Argentina v South Africa TBC, Argentina
30 August BYE
6 September Australia v South Africa Patersons Stadium, Perth
6 September New Zealand v Argentina McLean Park, Napier
13 September Australia v Argentina Skilled Park, Gold Coast
13 September New Zealand v South Africa Westpac Stadium, Wellington
20 September BYE
27 September South Africa v Australia Newlands, Cape Town
27 September Argentina v New Zealand TBC, Argentina
4 October South Africa v New Zealand Ellis Park, Johannesburg
4 October Argentina v Australia TBC, Argentina

Courtesy of Super XV