New Zealand All Blacks, Aussie Wallabies Face Off on ESPN

Two of the elite rugby teams in the world face off on ESPN2 Oct. 22, when the World Cup champ New Zealand All Blacks stare down the Wallabies of Australia. The match kicks off at 2:30 ET.

This will be the third match of the Bledisloe Cup, the annual competition between the Australian and New Zealand teams. The first two matches, held in August, were won by New Zealand by scores of 42-8 and 29-9.

In fact, the All Blacks have won 17 international matches in a row and have not lost at home in 44 “test” matches, dating back to 2009.

This weekend’s match is in Auckland, New Zealand.

WorldRugby.org ranks New Zealand No. 1 in the world and Australia No. 3, with the U.S. at No. 17.

ESPN and its channel offshoots have increased their rugby coverage. Last year, the network carried the historic match between the All Blacks and Manu Samoa. This year ESPN3 streamed a range of competitions, including the Super Rugby championship and World Rugby U20 World Championship.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.