[2025 TRC] New Zealand v Australia - 27/9/2025

[ChicagoKid]

Fair enough.

The Bled is not interesting to outsiders. A rivalry requires both teams to win. A lopsided record kills a rivalry.

The best thing to happen to BOTH sides would be Oz winning at least back to back Bleds. It would reignite the competition.

 

[OllyM97]

The Bled is not interesting to outsiders. A rivalry requires both teams to win. A lopsided record kills a rivalry.

The best thing to happen to BOTH sides would be Oz winning at least back to back Bleds. It would reignite the competition.

Completely agree - the Bledisloe from the late 80s until the mid 2000s was as good as it got in International rugby. From 1986-2005, the ABs won it 12 times and the Wallabies won it 8 times - even in 2003 when the ABs regained the Bledisloe, the Aussies still beat them in the RWC later that year - the Wallabies drew the series in 2004 as well. That was a proper rivalry - both teams won big games against the other on a consistent basis and there was nothing in it.

The Wallabies haven’t beaten the All Blacks in a game that actually counted since 2003. They’ve won a couple of games against the ABs in shortened RC’s in World Cup years and they’ve won a few dead-rubber Bledisloe’s but that’s about it. One team winning 9 times in 61 games over a 22 year period is not a rivalry, how ever much you try and pretend that it is.

The Bledisloe would be 100x better if Australia regained it and I suspect even a few Kiwis would agree. I’ll say it straight - New Zealand winning it every year gets on my nerves. It just drains any excitement out of it. As a competition, the Freedom Cup is so much more exciting.

People, mostly Kiwis, who try and hype up the Bled every year as some sort of contest are absolute jokers. One team winning a head to head trophy 23 years in a row is just dull - and, to me, takes away the prestige of the competition. In the pecking order of international rugby competitions, it’s not even top 5.

 

[Kiwiwomble]

I'm a loser because I've got an opinion you don't like - how embarrassing. The way that NZ make out that winning the Bledisloe is this heroic feat every year is cringeworthy. This Wallabies team is the best for a while, but it would still take some doing for the ABs to lose the Bledisloe in a two game, home and away format. The whole build-up to the BC every year just feels forced - people try and create a jeopardy that just isn't there. It's just my opinion, but of all the Rugby Championship fixtures every year, the Bledisloe is the one that I find least interesting. You've beaten the Wallabies on the last 10 occasions you've played them. Yes, individual games are closer now, but the result is always still the same.

Having said that, I actually think the Aussies will win comfortably in Perth this week, they need it far more than the All Blacks - a record losing streak against this era of ABs would be pretty embarrassing. Talk of a Wallaby resurgence would be seriously undermined if they can't beat this NZ side at home IMO.

you do see the irony in critiquing the players for celebrating.....something that the aussies cant do?....it not easy, its not like playing school boys or something, if they didn;t give it 100% they'd lose, if they didn;t celebrate someone would critique them for being too arrogant, assuming they would win, people just love a winge