CHANNEL 9 are relying on Scott Cam and an 86-year-old grandmother to tackle their network rivals in prime time and have given the Wallabies the boot.
While Will Genia and co are playing a live Test against Scotland in Newcastle on Tuesday night at 8pm, Nine - rugby's free-to-air broadcaster - will screen The Block and the Queens' Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The Wallabies Test be on delay at 11.15pm.
Given the huge ratings of The Block, the decision came as no surprise to ARU officials yesterday but there was disappointment that legislative red tape prevented the first Test from being shown live on Nine's digital channel Gem.
The original broadcast deal signed by Nine in 2010 did not include the extra mid-week Test against
Scotland, given it was only added into the Wallabies' schedule last year.
Nine were therefore only due to begin their 2012 rugby coverage with the three-Test Wales series on Saturday week, but after pressure from the ARU the network recently picked up the rights to also show the Scotland Test.
Anti-siphoning laws stipulate all Wallaby Tests on free-to-air must be shown on the primary channel but it was hoped Nine could get dispensation from the Federal Government to show the Scotland Test live on a
digital channel.
Nine sports boss Steve Crawley said because of the 11th hour rights deal for the Scotland Test, however, there wasn't enough time to process the paperwork in Canberra.
"We initially didn't have the rights for the Scotland game and once we had acquired those, we ran out of time," he said. "There was thought it could go on Gem but that's not allowed, so it has to appear on the primary channel."Fox Sports will screen the game live, and Nine will use their commentary and broadcast in the 11.15pm replay.
"Going live would have been our preference," an ARU spokesman said.