Rugby Australia CEO Rob Clarke has warned New Zealand Rugby "D-Day" is coming as the race to finalise a new Super Rugby competition heats up.
Clarke says he won't budge on Rugby AU's commitment to field five Australian teams.
"We have put a deadline for broadcast submissions of the fourth of September and before we enter into any final negotiations with a broadcast partner this has to be settled."
Last month NZR proposed an eight team Trans-Tasman tournament involving two Australian sides along with a Pacific Islands outfit and the five New Zealand teams.
Should New Zealand turn down a competition with five Australian and five New Zealand teams, Clarke says he'll continue discussions with Japan and the Pacific Island nations around having teams in Australia's tournament.
The Rugby AU boss has already put forward a five year broadcast package which includes a Super Eight competition which would follow various domestic competitions.
The tournament format would include the top two teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa plus a team from Japan and South America.
Meanwhile on the international front, Clarke says he also hopes for two Bledisloe Cup tests this year.
Should travel restrictions prevent the Bledisloe Cup being hosted in Australia with large crowds, Clarke says he's open to shifting games to New Zealand.
"The two Bledisloes, it's a bit like Star Wars numbering system, numbers three and four Bledisloes will be played first on the 10th and 17th of October, hopefully here in Australia and then numbers one and two will be played as part of the Rugby Championship in New Zealand later in November."
"Ideally you would want them in Australia to reward your fans, so they could come and watch the game and certainly from a commercial point of view,we have many corporate supporters and we'd want to reward them as well."
"If everything turned negative then, yes, one of the scenarios could be that we play those two Bledisloes in New Zealand capitalising on the opportunities they present and that has been factored into our thinking but certainly isn't our preference."
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