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ESPN staff
Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium will host the opening Bledisloe Cup fixture next year, meaning Sydney won’t stage rugby’s trans-Tasman battle for the second straight year.
Rugby Australia on Monday unveiled Marvel Stadium as the venue for the Aug. 8 showdown, which is the first of three games set to be played in the 2020 series. The match will be played as a double-header with the Wallaroos to host the Black Ferns earlier in the day.
“Our Wallaby and Wallaroo double-header events in Australia have been extremely popular with fans in Sydney in Perth and we are looking forward to staging the first ever double-header in front of packed Marvel Stadium in Melbourne,” RA chief executive Raelene Castle said.
“In 2019 we saw how much these events have captured the imagination of fans in both countries, with a sold-out sign at Optus Stadium in the west and again at Eden Park in Auckland a week later, and we expect there to be a lot of excitement in Melbourne to watch two fantastic Test matches.”
With Sydney’s ANZ Stadium beginning its refurbish and the city’s other main venue Allianz Stadium going through a complete rebuild, RA was left with little choice but to go outside its the harbour city for the second straight year.
Perth played host to Australia’s only Bledisloe Cup this year with the Wallabies recording a memorable 21-point victory at Optus Stadium.
Melbourne last hosted the Bledisloe Cup in 2010, the All Blacks winning 49-28.