Australia and New Zealand will make history after accepting an invitation from the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union to stage a Bledisloe Cup match in the region on 1 November.
The contest, which will take place at Hong Kong Stadium, will be the first game between the two nations at a neutral ground outside of a World Cup - the only previous meeting was in the 1991 rugby world cup semi-final at Lansdowne Road in Dublin - and will be the fourth Bledisloe Cup fixture in 2008.
Australia Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill believes the ‘full-blooded encounter’ opens a realm of possibilities for the game in Asia.
He told PA Sport: ‘We're very serious about growing the game internationally and particularly growing the game in Asia and the Hong Kong Rugby Union showed a real appetite for hosting this match by inviting us here.
‘There's no doubt there are attractive revenue possibilities - we're not being completely altruistic about it - but equally it's an opportunity to show that Australia and New Zealand are serious about the sport by bringing the mighty Bledisloe Cup - and making it a serious match, a match of integrity - to Hong Kong.
‘It tells Asia that they are going to be taken seriously.’
The Wallabies and All Blacks will play each other in three Tri-Nations fixtures before the fourth contest in Hong Kong and both unions were keen for the spectacle to be a competitive affair.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said: ‘We believe the match needed to have integrity and there's nothing more full of integrity than a Bledisloe Cup clash between the All Blacks and the Wallabies - we're not into the exhibition match mode at all.
‘We see it is a gateway to a bigger strategy in Asia over a period of time. We live in the Asia-Pacific region, it's very much part of our economic and commercial future both as a country and for us as a sports organisation.
‘We genuinely want to help the IRB grow the game, we've just had a very successful rugby world cup in France, we're hosting the rugby world cup in New Zealand in 2011, so just taking the game out into the rest of the world is part of what we want to help achieve.’
O'Neill revealed he is to meet with the Japan RFU on Tuesday, with the prospect of a Test match in Tokyo on the agenda.
He added: ‘We've got a range of issues to talk to the Japan RFU about including staging Test matches perhaps in Tokyo.’
Tew is also optimistic this one-off contest will be the first of many.
‘This is just the beginning of a big push and into the Asian market in the Asian world of sport,’ he added.
‘We have a broader vision for where the game might end up in this part of the world.
‘We'd like to think there will be a repeat fixture, where and when is a matter to be determined in the future.’
