New Zealand is one of the Rugby powerhouses in the world; the country has won several international titles among them in 1987, 2011, and 2015, where they were the Rugby World Cup winners. Rugby is considered a national sporting activity, with The New Zealand men’s team, which is also known as the All Blacks representing the country in international tournaments. All Blacks calendar is packed; there are several fixtures planned between now and December. Kate Richardson (You can view her profile here) highlights some of these fixtures with an aim of giving rugby fans and betting enthusiasts some useful insights on when the action will be.
With sports being one of the main activities that people from the land of Kiwi bet on, betting sites in New Zealand offers an opportunity to shop for a variety of benefits such as promotions and bonus. With the Asian volleyball tournament also coming soon after the summer games, the New Zealanders and other betting enthusiasts have their betting and entertainment package full. You can explore the Asian volleyball tournaments to get more information on the betting opportunities that are available this year in addition to the following New Zealand rugby national team fixtures:
- 2021 Steinlager series
- 2021 Bledisloe cup
- 2021 rugby championship
The Steinlager Series- 2021
The Steinlager Series- 2021 kicked off on 3rd July with a match between the All Black and Tonga. The second match will be played at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, on the same day there will be a match between All Blacks and Manu Samoa. On Saturday 10th, July 2021, the matches will be played at Forsyth Barr Stadium where All Blacks will play Fiji. July 17th will have All Black playing Fiji against and Tonga take Samoa at Stadium Waikato in Hamilton.
Bledisloe Cup
Starting August 7th, 2021 Eden Park in New Zealand will be home to the first Bledisloe test match. Bledisloe Cup is a competition between Australia and New Zealand, a tournament that is entering its 89th year with its frequency being varied but currently consists of three-match series which are held annually. However, during the World Cup, the tournament holds two-match series. The New Zealand side has won forty-eight titles so far, being the team that has the most successes. Australia on the other side has won twelve trophies since its inception.
When did the competition begin?
There has been a dispute as to when the tournament started with the Australian Rugby Union claiming that the first match was held in 1931, although no evidence supports this argument. The documented start date is the match between New Zealand and Australia in 1932. For fifty years, the competition was not regular. The cup was contested irregularly in terms of the periods when it happened, with New Zealand winning the tournament nineteen times while Australia claimed four trophies.
From 1982 to 1995, the tournament was competed regularly, sometimes as a single match while others in two or three matches. Out of these series, New Zealand won the Cup eleven times when Australia emerged the winner three times. Since 1996, the tournament has been part of the annual Tri-Nations competition. For some time now, the contest has been oscillating between two and three matches with the World Cup matches seeing a reduction to avoid any disruption with the preparation process.
There are some occasions when the content has been played outside the two countries with Hongkong playing host to the championship twice, in 2008 and 2010. Tokyo hosted some of the matches in 2009 as well as in 2018. Attempt to have United States play host as a neutral venue in 2009 and 2010 did not yield fruits.
The 2021 Bledisloe cup fixtures will see the second test being played at Optus Stadium on August 21st and the third test scheduled for August 28th with Sky Stadium being the venue.
The 2020 tournament saw the New Zealand team win the cup after a win of the third game at ANZ Stadium and another at Eden part, where they won by 27-7.
2021 Rugby Championship
The 2021 tournament will be the 18th edition. Three teams, dubbed the southern hemisphere nations including New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Argentina meet in an annual competition. The 2021 edition will see the Springboks of South Africa return to the tournament after missing it in 2020 due to the ban on travel and safety concerns related to the current pandemic. The tournament which normally kicks off in August and ends on October the second will see most of the matches being played in Australia and New Zealand two countries that have experienced low cases of infections since the pandemic started. South Africa will host their opening matches with Argentina.
The fixtures are scheduled as follows:
- Match 1 between South Africa and Argentina will be played in South Africa on 14th August
- Match 2 will be on 21st August where Australia plays New Zealand at Optus Stadium and Argentina play South Africa at South African venue that will be announced later
- Match 3 will see New Zealand play Australia on 28th August at Sky Stadium in Australia
- Match 4 will be held on 11th and 12th September where New Zealand takes Argentina on the first day and South Africa will be hosted by Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on the second day.
- Matchday 5 will be on 18th September where the first match will be between Argentina and New Zealand at Sky Stadium and the second competition will be between Australia and South Africa at Suncorp Stadium
- Matchday 6 will be held on 25th September where Sky stadium will be the host to the first match between Argentina and New Zealand while Suncorp hosts Australia and South Africa
- Matchday 7 will see Eden Park, Auckland being the host to South Africa and New Zealand on 2nd October while Argentina will be hosted by Australia on the same day.
All Blacks have a packed calendar for the remainder of 2021, Rugby fans will be in for a great treatment, the only question in many people’s minds is whether the team will continue with the winning trend, we can only wait and see.
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