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Melbourne to stage Bledisloe Cup
 Victoria PM Steve Bracks and Wallaby Rocky Elsom show off the Bledisloe Cup at the MCG. SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia's home Bledisloe Cup test against New Zealand in 2007 will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Wednesday. Sydney, venue for seven successive Bledisloe Cup tests between 1999 and 2005, will again miss out in 2007 after the game was played in Brisbane this year. The 2007 Tri-Nations will be reduced to six matches because it is a World Cup year. Australia and New Zealand will host just one Bledisloe Cup match each. The 2008 competition will revert to nine tests, with Australia due to stage two tests against the All Blacks. "A Bledisloe Cup Test is one of the biggest events on the Australian sporting calendar, up there with the Melbourne Cup and the AFL Grand Final," ARU chief executive Gary Flowers said. "There could be no better way of showcasing our game in Victoria than having 100,000 people at the MCG witnessing the Wallabies take on our greatest rivals." The MCG, venue for Bledisloe Cup tests in 1997 and 1998, will stage another one in 2010, with Sydney also guaranteed to host three internationals against the All Blacks over the next four years. "Sydney enjoyed seven straight years of Bledisloe Cups from 1999 to 2005, before we took the match to Brisbane this year for the first time in 10 years," Flowers said. "The Wallabies are our national winter team so it is important that we share their biggest tests with as many Australians as possible. "Victoria is one of Australia's largest markets, and it is one of rugby's highest strategic priorities to grow the game in the state." 
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