The Rugby ChampionshipExtra-Time for Bledisloe Cup matches will not be introduced following the 12-12 draw between the Wallabies and All Blacks last Saturday.

SANZAR believes there is no need to change to laws as they stand, and given the rarity of tied results, they have no doubt there will be a clear winner of The Rugby Championship tournament within which the Bledisloe is contested.

“It is not something that has ever been considered by us,” SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters said in relation to calls to introduce extra-time.

“Other than cases of finals, we have rules in place for the Super Rugby finals that include extra-time, but for The Rugby Championhip there are still a few weeks to go and we will have a clear-cut winner of the competition.”

Last weekend’s result was the second draw since the The Rugby Championship formed in 2012, with South Africa and Argentina locked at 16-16 in Mendoza in that first year. However, Australia and New Zealand also drew 18-18 in the third Bledisloe Test in 2012, which is not part of the The Rugby Championship.

Critics say the draw has disadvantaged Australia’s claims to regain the Bledisloe Cup, because as holders New Zealand only need to win one of the remaining two Tests to keep the trophy they’ve held since 2003.

Wallaby lock Sam Carter empathised with the fans who were at ANZ Stadium in teeming rain to watch the stalemate.

“Saturday was pretty disappointing, you’ve got 68,000 people coming and sitting in the rain for 80 minutes and then it’s a draw.”

“It’s a tough thing to cop.”

“I know all the players out there definitely weren’t playing for a draw.”

“It is tough after 80 minutes of hard work that it ends up [12-all], but I haven’t really thought about extra-time. Obviously it works in finals.”

Carter described the feeling on the ground when referee Jaco Peyper blew full-time as “dead”.

“When he blew the whistle I asked someone, ‘Is that it?’” Carter said.

“And then we all kind of stood around and walked off. It was pretty disappointing in the end.”

Regular Test matches have no stipulations for extra-time.

Only in finals situations, such as the World Cup and domestic tournament playoffs, do laws exist for extra-time, which if still hasn’t determined a winner, progresses to penalty goal shootouts.

Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said after the match that he won’t be lobbying for any changes to the rules to introduce extra-time.

“There’s not actually that many draws,” McKenzie said.

“We’re not set up for that. There’s lots of reasons why that doesn’t happen in rugby. You wipe that week out and you start again. All bets are off and you start again.”

“All we know is that everybody probably left frustrated. When the whistle blows, there’s silence. That’s what happens and that’s probably a fair indication of the outcome.”

“When you look at it, it was a game there to be won. We didn’t do that, so we did none of the things we’d normally do if we’d celebrated if we’d had a win.”

“So I guess we haven’t classified it as a win or anything super positive. It wasn’t a loss, but it was a bit of nothing in the end.”

One Response to The Rugby Championship: Push for EXTRA-TIME time in Rugby Championship matches draws negative response from SANZAR

  • 1

    Quite right, any such talk is just ‘after the event’ speculation, not that is the case for this one but often you get sections of media/fans and sometimes even those nearer the game calling for changes after something has happened and you wonder well if they really were concerned about the changes then why didn’t they bring them up before the time/season started etc. Don’t know where this one started but guessing from what happens here is that is has generated some extra calls into commercial sports talk radio stations in Australia and or New Zealand…

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