Ardern said today she had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last night to ensure the All Blacks' two Bledisloe Cup matches in New Zealand would still go ahead in October.
"I just wanted to make sure that he was aware ... I was made last night that there were a few little rumblings around the arrangements that we had in place," Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.
"Always better to get ahead of these things before they escalate. Given we had a bit of a deal - we go there, they come here, we both benefit. I thought he might want to know there were a few discussions as to whether the Aussies were still going to come."
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie previously criticised the tight turnaround expected by New Zealand Rugby of his side following planned quarantine measures for next month's Bledisloe Cup tests.
New Zealand has been confirmed to host two Bledisloe Cup tests after missing out on the hosting rights for the Rugby Championship due to restrictive quarantine protocols.
According to NZ Rugby chairman Brent Impey, New Zealand's quarantine protocols initially restricted teams to individual isolation for the first three days, before being allowed to form bubbles of 15 for training from days four to seven. After a second negative test, they would be able to expand the bubble to 25 from days eight to 14.
"If there was a positive test, then it's all over," Impey said.
Speaking about the issue this morning, Ardern confirmed that the director general had advised that the Wallabies would now be able to start training after three days and as a full squad after six days.
She believed they were still coming: "There's no reason for them not to."
She said the risk profile for the Australians was different for teams in the wider Rugby Championship - South Africa and Argentina. In the latter's case, some players and coach Mario Ledesma had tested positive for Covid-19.
Comments
Just goes to show restrictions are not about health and safety, but about the whims of NZ biggest PR celebrity.
NZer's banned from attending family funerals, but people allowed to enter NZ to attend the Chch sentencing or to make movies. People ordered home for walking in a park, but illegal road blocks given police approval. Small independent butchers and grocers banned from opening with a handful of customers inside, but the big players are allowed to open, with triple digit customers milling around together. Declares this is a Covid election one week, but berates the opposition the next for politicising the pandemic response. We are your single source of truth they say, we don't need to answers any questions they say....
Where is the consistency, where is the impartial media scrutiny of all these 'Captains calls'...?
Yep, would have been politically damaging to lose it; couldn't possibly have that so change the rules. Never mind we need specialist workers that she won't allow in. Politics, politics and hot air, par for the course.