All Blacks fail with bid to delay squad

World Cup hosts New Zealand have failed in their attempt to delay naming their final squad for the tournament until after their last Tri-Nations Test against Australia.

Final 30-man squads for the World Cup - which takes place from 9 September to 23 October - must be submitted to the International Rugby Board (IRB) on 22 August, six days before the All Blacks face Australia in their final Tri-Nations test in Brisbane.

Once the squad is named, if a player is injured and replaced, he cannot rejoin the squad unless there is a genuine injury to another player.

"Once we became aware of it we campaigned to see if we could delay things," All Blacks team manager Darren Shand told the New Zealand Herald.

"We did it on our own first then together with Australia but Rugby World Cup eventually decided that we couldn't move those dates."