Bledisloe Cup heads for Hong Kong

The Bledisloe Cup: Coming to a country near you? [GALLO/GETTY]

The Bledisloe Cup will be contested for the first time out of Australian or New Zealand shores when the Wallabies meet the All Blacks at Hong Kong in November.

The Australia and New Zealand rugby unions made a joint announcement, confirming a fourth match in this season’s Bledisloe Cup series would be staged on November 1 at Hong Kong Stadium.

“Australia and New Zealand are great sporting rivals and the Bledisloe Cup is always fiercely contested,” ARU chief executive John O’Neill said.

“November’s match will be no different. It promises to be a full-blooded encounter between two of the sport’s heavyweights. This is not an exhibition game.”

New Zealand has dominated the regular series since the first match in 1931, most notably during a 27-year period between 1951 and 1978 when it won all 12 series contested.

“We are excited to accept Hong Kong’s invitation to stage the first rugby international in Asia to feature two of the world’s top teams,” NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said.

“The match will make history and help promote rugby in a part of the world where it is developing quickly.”

The International Rugby Board met in Hong Kong on the weekend to investigate the prospect of a northern hemisphere vs. southern hemisphere match on a regular basis.

The IRB said it didn’t expect what it called an International Inter-Hemisphere Series to be set up until 2010.