Brisbane hijacks Bledisloe test

New Zealand's Bledisloe Cup test on Australian soil - an institution in Sydney over the past six years - has been hijacked by Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

But a big subsidy promised by the city's council has been withdrawn because Brisbane Deputy Mayor David Hinchliffe has decided that "ratepayers should not be paying for an elite sport that will happen anyway".

The match, which traditionally packs the rafters of Sydney's Telstra Stadium when the Wallabies take on the All Blacks, has been guaranteed to Suncorp next year by the Australian Rugby Union.

With the expanded Tri-Nations draw meaning New Zealand, Australia and South Africa will be playing each other three times from next year, the schedule will take the Springboks and All Blacks once or twice to Australia alternately.

Brisbane has also locked up at least one of the likely two South African matches, even though it seats about 30,000 fewer than Telstra.

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