Key events
Jack Snape
Eden Park against the All Blacks. It is perhaps the most formidable challenge in rugby union. The last time the home side lost was in 1994, before the pride of New Zealand began their unbeaten run at Auckland’s famous venue. It now stands at 53 Tests.
Australia’s record there is ugly. Just four wins in almost 100 years, the latest coming in 1986, the same year Wallabies coach Les Kiss debuted for the North Sydney Bears in the New South Wales Rugby League.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of New Zealand v Australia in the opening match of the 2026 Bledisloe Cup. Kick-off at Auckland’s Eden Park is scheduled for 7.10pm local time (5.10pm AEDT).
Fans of sporting cliche: are you ready, because the Wallabies have reached ‘whisper it quietly’ status. That’s right, whisper it quietly, but Australia’s men’s rugby team might be quite good again. So much so they’re a genuine chance of competing at their most unhappy hunting ground, Eden Park, and can now look ahead to next year’s World Cup with a sense of excitement, not dread.
For the first time since 2017 the men in gold are enjoying a six-game unbeaten run. Granted, a third of those fixtures have been against Japan – and a below-par Italy offered little resistance – but the most recent matches have featured a two-Test tour of Argentina and a home victory over South Africa.
That outing against the Springboks offered particular cause for optimism. Yes, it wasn’t Rassie Erasmus’s first XV, and yes, the chaotic final 15 minutes probably should have ended in a come-from-behind away win, but for an hour the Wallabies played the world champions off the park and were well worth their 42-17 lead.
Following the groundwork laid by Joe Schmidt, Les Kiss is enjoying a rare honeymoon period in the coach’s box. Schmidt did the donkey work of exposing as many players as possible to Test level, whittling down the contenders to what is now a very talented core squad, most of whom have acquired decent international experience. Aside from the glaring absence of a quality five-eighth there is no reason to suspect this side on the rise cannot continue on an upward trajectory.
But if any venue in international sport is going to bring an ambitious upstart back down to earth it’s Eden Park. The All Blacks haven’t lost at their fortress since 1994, 53 Tests ago. The Wallabies haven’t popped champagne in the away sheds since 1986.
However, this is an injury ravaged New Zealand side, one still figuring out its identity under new coach Dave Rennie, and coming off the back of a bruising four-Test series against the Springboks, one that also included four midweek tour matches in South Africa.
When the weekly World Rugby rankings were released on August 24 today’s match-up would have pitted the top-ranked side on the planet against the number eight outsiders. At that time Australia were closer to the USA on the standings than their trans-Tasman rivals. Now it’s second v sixth, with the Wallabies a rounding error off England in fifth and within touching distance of Ireland in third.
A positive result for the visitors today will return the sport of rugby into one deserving of a backpage lead and fire the starting pistol on a mouthwatering World Cup on home soil. Should they do so, we won’t be talking in quiet whispers any longer.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
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