Rugby-Australia to host rest of Rugby Championship after COVID-19 disruptions

MELBOURNE :Australia's northeastern state of Queensland will host eight Rugby Championship tests in double-headers over four weekends from September in a rejigged schedule following new COVID-19 restrictions across the country and in New Zealand.

The Gold Coast will host round three (Sept. 12) and round six (Oct. 2) of the southern hemisphere competition, with Brisbane staging the fourth round (Sept. 18) and Townsville the fifth on Sept. 25, organisers SANZAAR said on Tuesday.

The All Blacks play Argentina, with Australia facing South Africa in the first double-header on the Gold Coast.

Rugby Australia said the second round match between Australia and the All Blacks originally scheduled for Perth on Aug. 28 would be rescheduled in coming days.

The match is expected to go ahead in Perth on the weekend of Sept. 4-5.

"We thought last year was tough when we had to implement a Tri-Nations tournament in Australia with South Africa absent due to the pandemic, but the current disruption caused by the 'delta variant' of COVID-19 has seen government authorities tighten up border biosecurity measures substantially," SANZAAR Chief Executive Officer Brendan Morris said in a media release.

"This is understandable and therefore, we had no option but to basically move the remainder of the Rugby Championship to Queensland."

Queensland is largely coronavirus-free but Australia's southern states of New South Wales and Victoria, along with the Australian Capital Territory, are locked down as authorities battle to contain outbreaks of the Delta variant.

New Zealand is also locked down until Aug. 27 while its largest city Auckland, the epicentre of the country's recent outbreak, will have restrictions in place at least until Aug. 31.

New Zealand Rugby announced on Friday they had cancelled their home Rugby Championship tests against South Africa and pulled out of the Wallabies test in Perth because of the uncertainty of scheduling.

South Africa lead the Rugby Championship table after winning back-to-back home matches against Argentina.

New Zealand thrashed Australia 57-22 at Eden Park in the first round.

Rugby Championship schedule:

Round Two

Aug. 21: South Africa 29 v Argentina 10 - Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Date TBC: Australia v New Zealand - Perth

Round Three

Sept. 12: New Zealand v Argentina - Gold Coast

Sept. 12: South Africa v Australia - Gold Coast

Round Four

Sept. 18: Argentina v New Zealand - Brisbane

Sept. 18: Australia v South Africa - Brisbane

Round Five

Sept. 25: Australia v Argentina - Townsville

Sept. 25: New Zealand v South Africa - Townsville 

Round Six

Oct. 2: Argentina v Australia - Gold Coast

Oct. 2: South Africa v New Zealand - Gold Coast 

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)