A friendly jibe from the All Blacks towards their Australian rivals after organisers elected to bypass a blockbuster trans-Tasman clash as the 2027 World Cup opener

New Zealand will start their campaign against Chile on October 2nd - after the Wallabies raise the curtain on the tournament the night before against Hong Kong.

The All Blacks have contrasted two images in a post to social media.

The first shows the Wallabies facing the haka underneath the words "opening night" - that's placed above the actual image used by the tournament to promote Australia's clash with Hong Kong.

The post is captioned "we thought we had a script".

The All Blacks and Wallabies will instead meet in Sydney on October 9 - before New Zealand wrap up the group stage against Hong Kong in Melbourne six days later.

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