NZ loses bid to shift Bledisloe test

New Zealand rugby bosses have lost a skirmish with their Sanzar counterparts to stage the final Bledisloe Cup test on a Friday night at Eden Park.

The refusal will infuriate New Zealand and further sour a transtasman relationship raw from Australia's supporting Japan rather than New Zealand to host the 2011 World Cup.

The NZRU has since made repeated noises about Australia needing to repair the damage.

It has been inferred that Australia could begin to atone by shifting the deciding Bledisloe Cup test from Saturday, August 19, to the night before to ease the All Blacks' travel worries for their subsequent tests in South Africa.

But NZRU chief executive Chris Moller said yesterday the World Cup hosting vote and Tri-Nations scheduling issues were separate matters.

He said All Black coach Graham Henry had spoken for some time about the problems for his squad playing consecutive tests.

Those difficulties were exacerbated by asking them to include the lengthy journey to South Africa during tests on three successive weekends.

Moller objected to comments from ARU chief executive Gary Flowers that the NZRU connected every problem to the World Cup hosting rights vote.

"To say to us get over it, stop blaming everything on the Rugby World Cup - frankly it does not sit very comfortably with us because we are raising this issue for the very valid reasons we have outlined," Moller said.

"Irrespective of the vote of the 17th of November this matter would have been on the table.

"I object to having our issues trivialised, that in some way this is just getting back because they did not vote for us in the World Cup."

Kickoff for the Eden Park test has been moved forward two hours, a small compromise and one the NZRU had agreed to reluctantly.

"It is a partial solution and still does not address the issues."

Moller has spent the last few months arguing with the Sanzar partners for the change in kickoff on the grounds of player welfare.

Despite meetings, correspondence and phone calls, Moller said, there had been no headway on the player welfare issue, while the relationship between New Zealand and Australia remained "dulled".

Australia and South Africa rejected the date change because of broadcasting issues, a subject which is often at the core of NZRU arguments in favour of the Super 14 and Tri-Nations series.

South Africa were worried by the reduced commercial and spectator implications of a Friday test in New Zealand which would be televised on Friday morning in the Republic.

It is believed Australia baulked because of a potential broadcasting conflict with NRL matches on Friday night.

The All Blacks play the Springboks at Pretoria on August 27 and then a week later in Rustenburg.