Teams agree to another set of rules

New Zealand and Australia's rugby players might have to adapt to another set of rules when they play their Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong under the worldwide ELVs.

SYDNEY // New Zealand and Australia's rugby players might have to adapt to another set of rules when they play their Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong under the worldwide Experimental Law Variations (ELVs). New Zealand had asked for the Nov 1 match to be played under the rules introduced last month as part of a one-year international trial, Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill said. "It's fairly likely the game in Hong Kong will be played under the August 1 ELVs," O'Neill said.

"We've been discussing it with our New Zealand friends and they're of the view that because it's the start of the spring tour for both sides, that for continuity, it would be better to use the same laws across all of those spring tour games. The Super 14 was played under one set of the ELVs, after which the All Blacks and Wallabies played northern hemisphere opposition under the old rules. The Tri-Nations, which also involves South Africa, was then played under another slightly modified set of ELVs.

The match in Hong Kong will be played under the rules being trialled in the northern hemisphere. * Reuters