'Veritable banquet' of tests in the offing

Buoyed by an on-budget Four Nations that means a handsome profit will return with him to New Zealand this week, NZRL chairman Scott Carter is promising a "veritable banquet" of test match league next season.

The Kiwis will have four home tests - a rare deluge of international football - spread around the country and the NZRL is also ready to create a national under-20 side and perhaps resurrect the national 'A' team.

Having fended off a bid from Papua New Guinea to host their test against England in Port Moresby, Carter is now just weeks from confirming a planned NZ v Australia, England v PNG double-header at Eden Park next November.

And Carter is so confident that league tests have become financially viable in New Zealand that he is considering trying to prise the annual May test away from Australia and play it here in 2011: the first time since 1998. "Our priority is regular international fixtures at home for the Kiwis," Carter told the Sunday Star- Times this week. "2010 will be a veritable banquet of Kiwis tests for home fans."

New Zealand will play a home warm-up against a Pacific Islands nation, then three Four Nations tests at home against England, Australia and PNG.

The Kiwis will play at least one home test in 2011 against an island side, as well as, hopefully, that test against Australia.

For the first time, the NZRL is asking for tenders from venues to host the games, and Carter, who is "acutely aware" of the need to take fixtures outside Auckland, says demand has been high, particularly from rebuilt stadiums wanting to test themselves out before the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton and Rotorua are likely candidates for the four games, with a Christchurch test likely to be held in conjunction with the New Zealand Cup racing carnival.

Carter said Australia was happy to cede their game to New Zealand, because they were "mindful it would be inappropriate for them to have home advantage all the time" and because Australia will host the final.

In another development that will please local fans, Carter says developing international football for the under-20s is a "must-achieve" for New Zealand to ensure the best youngsters graduate to the Kiwis (and not other national teams) and expects an Australia-New Zealand under-20 game next year and even an under-20 Tri-Nations.

The NZRL now appears headed for a positive balance sheet in January, with Carter saying this year's Four Nations would hit budget. "It's fair to say England, Australia and New Zealand took a conservative view: we didn't want a repeat of 2007," he said, referring to the Kiwis' disastrous trip to England two years ago.

"All three nations wanted to see a stable tournament - New Zealand literally couldn't afford to lose money."

Carter said the four-team format had worked and would be retained. "The consensus is that France has stepped up: that was always the worry that what was a very good Tri- Nations format would be watered down. But we are really pleased with how France shaped up, especially considering the challenges of injury, suspension and swine flu."

And he also staunchly backed the Anzac test, which previous administrators wanted to can, declaring: "We're very keen for it to continue - you would have to ask why on earth you would be in charge of the NZRL if you didn't want to play Australia?"

Having won the battle to have a Kiwi referee at this morning's Four Nations final, the New Zealand delegation was "satisfied" with the other outcomes of the International Federation meeting at Leeds.

The meeting heard plans for a 16-team world cup in England in 2013, Carter indicating he was now swaying towards such expansion, adding: "Everyone was surprised what a strong argument was put forward for a 16-team tournament: it was a very compelling case. It's fair to say everyone entered the meeting fairly fixed on the concept of a 12-team format but the presentation was so good and sensible, it is being mulled over."

Despite Kiwi demands for tighter rules, there was no firm resolution on the troubled question of international player eligibility, despite New Zealand demands to tighten the rules to stop what Carter calls the "mockery of nation hopping": as demonstrated by Fuifui Moimoi, who has switched from Tonga to New Zealand twice in three years.

- © Fairfax NZ News