New Zealand Rugby shut down talks of All Blacks v Kangaroos
- 1018
New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew has poured cold water on reports of a hybrid game between the All Blacks and the Kangaroos league team, after the next World Cup in 2019.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph is claiming the All Blacks and Australian Rugby League have both showed interest in the concept - suggesting the match could take place 'two to four weeks' after the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
In a statement issued last night, Tew immediately put a line through the proposed match saying it is far from the truth.
"We get asked to consider a large number of proposals regularly, and in this case, we were approached over a year ago about the possibility of a hybrid game," Tew said.
"Other than that initial conversation, there have been no other discussions and this is definitely not something we are pursuing."
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen laughed off the story when he was asked to comment ahead of Sunday's (NZ time) Test match against France in Paris.
"$50 million? Yeah, I chuckle at a lot of the media reports I read," Hansen said. "I haven't heard anything about it."