New Zealand Rugby have doubled down on their insistence that they never agreed to the Rugby Championship extending into six weeks, which would leave the All Blacks in quarantine over Christmas.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2018
NZR have been at loggerheads with Rugby Australia, South African Rugby and governing body SANZAAR over the December 12 finish for the tournament to be held in Australia.
Rugby Australia and SANZAAR have said consistently that New Zealand Rugby were aware of the dates and had agreed to them, however, the NZR chairman Brent Impey again denied those claims last night.
Impey said they had asked for a December 5 finish to ensure their players would be released from a 14-day quarantine upon their return to New Zealand.
"New Zealand never agreed to a December 12 match in Australia," Impey told reporters on a video call. "That is my honest view."
Listen to New Zealand Rugby Union Brent Impey speak
New Zealand's Newshub and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday that minutes they had seen from a September 17 meeting showed that NZR was aware the tournament would not finish until December 12.
The fixtures were made public on September 24.
Impey said the September 17 meeting was not a board meeting but a conference call between chief executives. No minutes were taken but notes could have been made.
"The notes have a fundamental error in them as far as we're concerned in that they said the six-week draw was agreed by all when it wasn't," he said.
"The notes also quite clearly refer to an impasse and there are many emails that prove this ... our position has never changed."
Impey said NZR chief executive Mark Robinson was working "daily" on trying to find a solution.
-Reuters/RNZ