With yet another convincing win over trans-Tasman rivals Australia, New Zealand’s All Blacks retained the 2010 Bledisloe Cup (20-10).

The win in Christchurch (New Zealand) came after a 49-28 drubbing in Melbourne (Australia) a week before.

While there are still two matches to be played (Sydney September 11 and Hong Kong October 30), the All Blacks have wrapped up the 2010 contest in fine form.

This begs the question:

Will Bledisloe Cup #4 at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday October 30 be a boring affairs with the two teams simply going through the motions in preparation for their respective Northern Hemisphere Tours?

Yes, they will be going through the motions, but we suspect it will be anything but a boring affair.

For one, the Hong Kong leg will again serve as preparation for their Northern Hemisphere tours and the players will want to do everything they can to impress the selectors in order to feature in their respective starting line-ups for the Northern tour.

Secondly, when the two Antipodian sides last clashed in the SAR in 2008, the same situation existed with New Zealand again claiming the honours before a ball was even kicked at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po.  On that day, the Cup holders also took the honours (19-14).  Despite New Zealand lining up as Cup Champions in 2008, the HKRFU recorded an almost full-house and we predict the same will happen come October  30.

Hong Kong is a city with thousands of expatriates plying their trade in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and a large majority hail from Down Under.  Coupled with that the fact that overall, most expats come from the UK (due to historical reasons) and you have potentially at least half of the HK Stadium capacity (20,000) who will buy tickets.  Due to it’s Sevens reputation as a great party destination and it’s relative proximity to Australia and New Zealand, many supporters from Down Under will also choose to follow their sides to Hong Kong, further swelling the gate takings in So Kon Po.

While the tickets are not cheap (the most expensive category ticket will set you back almost the same as a 3-day pass for the HK Sevens at HK$1,250) most rugby fans in Hong Kong are so starved of top-class rugby that they will easily pay up. The two lower categories are selling for HK$1,000 and HK$880 respectively.

Needless to say, Howzit-HongKong.com will bring you all the action from Bledisloe #4… Live from Hong Kong.

Stay close.

Saturday evening, October 30 will find Howzit-HongKong.com no where else but at Mes Amis in WanChai. Kevin Lewis captured the 2008 fun and music at this popular watering hole in the City’s premier party district.  This is how we party in Hong Kong!

Two years ago I attended the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match (New Zealand vs. Australia) to be played outside of these two countries.

The match, in terms of interest and exposure for the two brands, was a resounding success and last year the powers-that-be decided to try that experiment on Japanese soil.  I don’t know whether the New Zealand and Australian rugby boards were not impressed with their Japan outreach experiment, but thanks be to the rugby-gods that they decided to return the final match of the Bledisloe Cup series here in Hong Kong.

With the addition of the Hong Kong match, the Bledisloe Cup will be decided over four Tests in 2010.

Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to meet three times as part of the Tri-Nations Series and then contest the fourth and final match in Hong Kong.

The 2010 Bledisloe Cup Series

Match 1: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (July 31)

Match 2: AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Aug 7)

Match 3: ANZ Stadium, Sydney (September 11)

Match 4: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong (October 30)

Tickets

SA Association

Last I heard, the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) received another ticket allocation this year.  Please contact the SAAHK’s Bruce Fowler for more information.

Hong Kong Public Sales

From 2nd August onwards (10:00am) residents in Hong Kong (Hong Kong ID Card holders) will be able to purchase tickets through HK Ticketing online: www.hkticketing.com , by phone : +852 31 288 288 or at HK Ticketing Outlets including Box Offices and Tom Lee Music Stores.

For further details, please go to www.hkticketing.com

Pricing

The entire stadium will be reserved seating. Customers will be able to choose from and reserve the available seats in the stadium and a range of price options will apply depending on the location of the seats. Tickets are priced at HK$1,250, HK$1,000 and HK$880.

Bledisloe Cup

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Kick off at 4.30pm HKT (7.30pm AEDT; 9.30pm NZT).

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong:

Click here to visit the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong website