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The All Blacks Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship tests have been plunged into doubt after the government paused the quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia for eight weeks.
The All Blacks are due to play three Bledisloe tests against Australia in Auckland on 7 August, Perth two weeks later, and in Wellington on 28 August.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is now working with Rugby Australia (RA) and Sanzaar to evaluate the options around the Bledisloe Cup Series and the Rugby Championship.
Photo: Stuart Walmsley / www.photosport.nz
NZR chief executive Mark Robinson said the government s latest announcement presented some challenges but hoped the tests could still go ahead.
New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey
Photo: Photosport
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) need the backing of more than 50 percent of the country s provincial rugby unions at Thursday s AGM along with the approval of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association for Silver Lake to get a 12.5 percent stake in NZR s commercial interests.
The deal is worth $387.5 million for NZR.
NZR chairman Brent Impey said the mediation between NZR and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association was ongoing and the players would not support the deal at the AGM. We ve agreed to go back to our stakeholder groups, we ll reconvene at some point after this week, but no deal with the players, Impey told Checkpoint.