The ACT Brumbies can start preparing for next month's Trans Tasman rugby competition after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a travel bubble with Australia from April 19.
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Ardern's eagerly anticipated announcement removes the need for travelers between Australia and New Zealand to quarantine, and is set to grant Rugby Australia's wish to help facilitate a Trans Tasman competition at the conclusion of each country's respective Super Rugby seasons.
Rugby Australia, New Zealand Rugby and SANZAR were reportedly in talks on Tuesday afternoon about what the travel bubble meant for the competition, with an update expected on Wednesday.
A blockbuster against the Crusaders on May 15 in Christchurch is scheduled to be the first Brumbies' hitout against New Zealand opposition in more than a year.
That would likely be followed by a match against the Chiefs a week later before a proposed 'super round', which would involve all 10 teams playing in the same location over a weekend.
Two matches on Australian soil then close out the Brumbies' draw.
Coach Dan McKellar will have little time to switch his focus to the Trans-Tasman competition should it go ahead, with this year's Super Rugby AU decider scheduled for May 8.
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McKellar's side square off against the ladder-leading Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Friday night looking to reclaim top spot, and have been bolstered by the shock return of Will Miller who was lured out of retirement to help cover the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by Jahrome Brown.
Miller said the possibility of a return to Trans Tasman rugby factored into his decision to answer McKellar's SOS call.
"I'm excited to play against New Zealanders and everyone else is as well," the 28-year-old said.
"The more competition we have not only as a club but as Australia and Australian rugby, it'll prepare the international boys [for] the way the different teams play and the different styles they play.
"I'm sure all the young boys especially are stinging to go somewhere different and see a different culture and experience that, and also experience the travel and the hard and the good parts of it, it'd be good for them.
"At the moment as well it's just focusing on this first comp and see how we go there."
Miller retired after last season's Super Rugby AU decider, and returned to his family farm in Berry.
"It made me a little bit itchy watching [and not playing] - the last three or four weeks I've been watching pretty closely," he said.