Leaked minutes from a Sanzaar meeting have revealed New Zealand Rugby agreed to play a six-week Rugby Championship which would finish on 12 December.

Last week when Sanzaar announced the match schedule for the Rugby Championship, which will run from 7 November to 12 December, NZR expressed its disappointment and disapproval of the scheduling of the six-week tournament because it would mean the All Blacks will have to quarantine for two weeks when they return to New Zealand, resulting in their players not being able to spend Christmas Day with their families.

But while NZR chief executive Mark Robinson has repeatedly insisted that they did not agree to play a six-week tournament and the that they were blindsided by Sanzaar’s announcement, the Sydney Morning Herald has sourced the minutes from the meeting that proves otherwise.

The documents clearly show the six-week tournament was agreed upon by all four nations and the announcement was also set in stone for late September.

Despite the evidence stacking up against NZR, Robinson held firm on Wednesday.

‘We didn’t agree to the schedule and don’t agree to the schedule; or the announcement,’ Robinson commented.

‘Ordinarily, under Sanzaar joint venture that means things aren’t decided or announced until there is unanimous support for anything such as this.’

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