NZ Rugby Players Association boss Rob Nichol claims a SANZAAR meeting where the governing body signed off on the Rugby Championship dates never took place.
Newshub has exclusively revealed that NZ Rugby signed off on a December 12 finish to the tournament, as part of a SANZAAR meeting that took place on September 17.
Newshub obtained the minutes from the meeting, which included NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson, along with members of the Australian, South African and Argentinian rugby unions, and SANZAAR boss Andy Marinos.
When the Rugby Championship draw was released last week, Robinson claimed he was "blindsided" by a finish date that would see All Blacks management and staff still in managed isolation on Christmas Day.
Springboks and Pumas players must also quarantine when returning to their respective countries, although the former can quarantine at home, after completing a clinical assessment and have been tested at a designated quarantine facility.
Speaking to NZME, Nichol says the date of the minutes obtained by Newshub doesn't line up.
"All the information we have is, no, they didn't [agree to it]," says Nichol. "And I've seen the response to the effect as well.
"The minutes story was an interesting one, because our information shows there wasn't even a meeting on that date and no one's seen any minutes."
Along with the minutes, details revealed by Newshub show that the New South Wales Government wanted to announce its support for the draw on September 21. That was pushed back to September 24, but all were comfortable with that.
"There's some real irony in this, because what we've learnt is exactly the same time that SANZAAR management put out a press release effectively changing the draw to show our last game on December 12, the broadcasters themselves had circulated a draw that showed the last game on December 5 and all approved it," Nichol adds.
"So we've just got a whole lot of questions, because it's our players and team management who are going to be asked to go through this, and until we get some transparency, then we're not going to be committing to anything.
"There are a whole lot of solutions on the table, but we need people to look at them."
Newshub has approached Marinos for comment.
South Africa's participation in the Rugby Championship remains in doubt, as they've just started playing rugby again and a decision will be made on October 10.
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