Rugby Australia

Governing body SANZAAR says the eight team members crossed the Queensland border into NSW yesterday without exemptions and were stopped trying to re-enter Queensland.

The travel was a direct breach of the present Queensland Government health orders and SANZAAR's Rugby Championship tournament biosecurity plan.

SANZAAR has informed Argentina Rugby that all members of this group are now ineligible to participate further in the tournament but Saturday's rugby championship test between Australia and Argentina on the Gold Coast will proceed.

Workhorse Koroibete will miss the final round of the Rugby Championship on the Gold Coast on Saturday, as the Wallabies aim to secure their fourth successive win with another victory over Argentina.

Australia earned a 27-8 defeat over plucky Argentina in Townsville last Saturday, which came after two wins over world champions South Africa.

Koroibete has already flown home to Melbourne to spend time with his young family, which includes a newborn, before Australia’s squad departs in late October for its UK tour.

The two-time NRL premiership winger with Melbourne has been impressive in his brief appearances so far, with Queensland Reds coach and dual international Brad Thorn claiming he’s done it better than anyone he’s seen.

But three separate hamstring injuries, the most recent coming last week as he prepared to enter Wallabies camp for the Rugby Championship, have restricted him to just eight Super Rugby games.

The Drua also have to decide where they will be based next season, with Fiji's ongoing Covid-19 problems ruling out plans to play on home soil.

Flying Fijians prop Haereiti Hetet said the Drua was a hot topic of conversation when national squad during their recent test series against the All Blacks.

"It's just like another platform really for Fijian players to showcase their skills for the world stage, in terms of it's a step up from just playing their club and comps and stuff in Fiji and playing against the best," he said.

Governing body SANZAAR has confirmed the 12-team tournament would kick off in 2022, bringing Pacific islands teams into the southern hemisphere provincial competition for the first time.

New Zealand's teams won 23 of 25 games against their Australian opponents in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in May and June, underlining the gulf between the nations' rugby programmes.

"I think if you look across the board at the competition next year, you're going to probably look at a 90%, 80% win rate for New Zealand teams," Read told Sky Sport.

The 12-team tournament will see Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika join the five Australian and five New Zealand sides, set to kick off on 18 February 2022.

Teams will play each other once across the 14-week regular season, along with playing three teams twice, with an added focus on delivering more local derbies following the success of Super Rugby AU and Aotearoa.

The final series will see the top eight teams battle it out, with quarters, semis and final as follows:

But plans for the four-team Rugby Championship, also including world champions South Africa and Argentina, being played solely in Perth look to have been knocked on the head.

The Bledisloe match is scheduled for Optus Stadium on August 28, however doubts surfaced with the All Blacks caught up in New Zealand’s snap lockdown on Tuesday.

Following the outbreak the West Australian government changed the border arrangements so all arrivals from New Zealand must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

Les Bleus led by 15 points in the first half after two Gabin Villiere tries but Wallabies captain Michael Hooper's late try closed France's lead to one.

France then kicked a penalty to touch but fumbled the resulting line-out and Australia won the decisive penalty.

The sides meet again on Tuesday in the second game of the three-match series.

It was Australia's second Test victory since the 2019 World Cup against a French side that have rested most of their Test starters.

Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos said that would give the Wallabies time to rest after the bunched-up three-test series against France.

"At a worst case we're looking at August 7th as the first possible date that (the Rugby Championship) could happen," he told reporters.

"There's a good two, maybe three weeks after this (France) test series in order for the guys to recoup, refresh and get themselves ready."

World champions South Africa pulled out of last year's Rugby Championship against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, citing player welfare concerns.

The first test is in Sydney on Wednesday, July 7 at the SCG followed by a Tuesday night Melbourne match at AAMI Park on July 13 and a final test on Saturday, July 17 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

The condensed series is due to French club commitments and hotel quarantine for the visitors.

It’s the first time since 2012 that the Wallabies have played a midweek test, with Australia losing that match to Scotland.

Both countries will name larger squads than normal for the series given it’s unlikely they can field the same starting side in successive tests.