Rugby - Bledisloe Cup goes West for first time

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand will play a Bledisloe Cup test in Perth for the first time, as international rugby makes its debut at the new Burswood stadium in 2019.





The Aug. 10 match will be the second part of a double-header after the women's Wallaroos team host New Zealand's Black Ferns.

It follows on from the men's and women's double-header in Sydney in August.

Perth has staged international rugby before but has never hosted the All Blacks. Australia usually hosts the lucrative Bledisloe Cup matches on the eastern seaboard.

The 60,000-seat Perth Stadium in Burswood, however, has a large enough capacity to compete with the big venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

"I know many fans from across Australia and New Zealand will want to travel for this historic occasion, to experience outstanding rugby and everything that Western Australia has to offer," Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle said in a statement on Thursday.

Australia and the All Blacks play the third Bledisloe Cup test in Tokyo next week, with New Zealand having already wrapped up the annual series 2-0 after wins in Sydney and Auckland.

The All Blacks have held the trans-Tasman trophy since 2003.





(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)


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