Christchurch set to host Anzac test

South Island rugby league fans are likely to be compensated with the 2011 Anzac test match between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos after Christchurch's AMI Stadium was dumped from this year's Four Nations test schedule.

After plans for a double-header match at Eden Park hit resource consent issues last year, Christchurch had fronted what the NZRL described as a "very attractive" alternative bid to host the New Zealand-Australia and England-Papua New Guinea matches at the redeveloped stadium on November 6.

But Eden Park was last week locked in for those matches after overcoming rules over late-night floodlighting that threatened to force early kick-off times.

NZRL chief executive Jim Doyle denied suggestions the Eden Park Trust also significantly cut its hosting fee demands.

Doyle admitted Christchurch was a "little pissed off" about missing out entirely on the Four Nations, with the Kiwis' other home games against England and PNG going to Wellington and Rotorua. He hoped to announce within a month that the 2011 Anzac test would go to AMI Stadium, the first test football there since the 2006 Tri-Nations.

Doyle said there would also be a Kiwis v Samoa warm-up test at Mt Smart in Auckland and denied claims by a British RFL spokesman that he had jumped the gun in releasing the dates.

- © Fairfax NZ News