ARU talks up the capital as a Test venue
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BY JOHN-PAUL MOLONEY
13/06/2009 9:59:00 AM
After a nine-year drought, Canberra may have to wait only a year for another taste of Test match rugby.
ARU deputy chief executive Matt Carroll said yesterday the national body was ''a good chance'' of assigning a Test against Fiji next year to Canberra Stadium.
''Canberra Stadium is a good size venue for a Test where we're not playing a side like the All Blacks,'' Carroll said.
''We'll always be playing Tests against Italy or Scotland and they're games where we wouldn't attract the 80,000 you'd have to take to the big stadiums.
''We're looking at playing Fiji next year, that could be a good Test match down here.''
Years of staging early-season Tests against lower-ranked nations in half empty stadiums have convinced the ARU it is better off assigning those matches to venues generally overlooked.
It has been nine years since the Wallabies last played a Test in Canberra, against Argentina in 2000.
Notwithstanding the poor weather this week, the decision to base themselves in Canberra has been popular with Australian players and their coach Robbie Deans, who describes the city as ''a rugby destination''.
While Carroll wouldn't commit to Canberra being awarded Tests on an annual or biennial basis, he indicated the expiry of some existing stadium deals in 2010 and 2011 would allow the ARU to be ''a bit more agile where we play our Tests''.
Carroll attended the inaugural ACTSport President's Breakfast yesterday morning in place of ARU boss John O'Neill, who was a late withdrawal.
He described the frustrating battle behind the scenes to get agreement on Super rugby expansion from 2011 and said the creation of a fifth Australian team would require a relaxation of nationality restrictions to allow, for example, Pacific Island players to join Australian provinces and still be eligible for their Test teams.
But he warned the ARU would closely govern how the fifth team recruited its players, saying the ''free for all'' player grab of the Western Force's creation wouldn't be repeated.
''You need to manage that carefully and you need rules in place about what the team can do, work closely with the existing unions and also the players and players association.
''We'll keep a tight rein on how that's done. It's in our interests because we don't want the Brumbies, Reds, Waratahs or Force to be hurt by the new team, we want them to be enhanced.''
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...e/1539798.aspx
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