Peter Jackson: All Blacks rest cure will cost WRU £4m

The All Blacks have torn a gaping hole in Wales’ autumn schedule, one damaging enough to run into seven figures.
Instead of squeezing every last drop out of four internationals in four weeks, the WRU are down to three this year because their New Zealand counterparts have made a stand on the issue of escalating Test competition.
The world champions have put player-welfare before an extra pay day and turned down the annual Welsh invitation to pitch up in Cardiff on November 30 at the end of their European trip. They also turned down the Barbarians at Twickenham on the same day in what would have been a 40th anniversary celebration of the unforgettable Cardiff match in 1973.
The All Blacks are unwilling to risk one match too many and a repeat of the beating England gave them last year.
As a result, the WRU has to settle for a truncated programme against South Africa, Argentina and Tonga.
Their justification for going outside the three-week Test window has always been the need for the extra match to help them meet their annual £6m payment to the regions for the collective hire of their players. Now they will have to find the money elsewhere.
Whichever way the numbers are crunched, the New Zealand fixture would have generated the best part of £5m in ticket sales and a handsome profit even allowing for the £1m appearance fee
commanded by the All Blacks.
They have been to the Millennium Stadium every non-World Cup year since 2004. Australia have been there ever year, including World Cup years, since 2005.
Neither will make it this time on account of being otherwise engaged – the All Blacks against France, England and Ireland; the Wallabies against Italy, Ireland and Scotland.