All Blacks and Fiji play a test in San Diego as rugby tries to crack the American market

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The All Blacks will play Fiji in San Diego on Friday night in the latest step in an effort by New Zealand Rugby to penetrate the U.S. sporting market.

The match was initially scheduled to be played at Hamilton, New Zealand, but the sport's national organizers made the decision to move it to the United States as part of a concerted effort win fans to rugby.

The three-time world champion All Blacks have played several matches in the United States in the last decade, notably in 2016 when they lost to Ireland in front of a near capacity crowd at Soldier Field in Chicago. A sellout crowd of around 35,000 is expected again at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday.

New Zealand most recently played the U.S. men's national team in 2021 at Fed Ex Field in Maryland and won 104-14, which may not have been the greatest sales pitch to American fans.

But New Zealand’s approach to the United States has since become more broad-based than simply playing occasional matches there. New Zealand Rugby has stepped up its social media presence and content creation and is working with online video influencers to raise the sport's profile.

“There are lots of different facets to how we might approach the United States,” New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said in an interview earlier this year. “There’s a lot of work to do but this is a great start.”

In the leadup to the match on Friday, the New Zealand and Fiji players have conducted activities involving fans and sponsors and have done more than the usual media interviews.

San Diego was chosen as the match venue because the city has a significant population of people from the Pacific Islands and is close to large Pacific populations in the Bay area and Hawaii.

New Zealand's moves and wider action by World Rugby has become more urgent because the United States has been chosen to host the men’s World Cup in 2031 and the women’s World Cup two years later.

The match on Friday can be seen as part of an advance guard of measures to win more local support for rugby ahead of those tournaments.

“I guess if you look at the years to 2031 we’ve got the chance to create a roadmap to how we might to work with our teams in black to create more awareness for the game, a deeper understanding of New Zealand rugby, the All Blacks and all of our teams,” Robinson said.

At the same time, New Zealand Rugby recently sold a percentage of its commercial revenues to California-based private equity firm Silver Lake and that carries an implicit responsibility to build its revenues, partly by exploring new rugby markets.

Other sports also are eyeing the United States’ massive audience and commercial opportunities. Cricket staged matches in the Twenty20 World Cup in the United States last month and Australia’s National Rugby League played a match in Las Vegas in March and will do so again next year.

Robinson said Fiji also has the chance to capture a new audience for its exciting brand of rugby. Fiji's men's team has won both Olympic rugby sevens gold medals contested so far and the country is a long-time leader in that version of the game.

The country is a growing force in the traditional 15-a-side game.

“It’s really important to state that this is a massive opportunity for Fiji and the All Blacks,” Robinson said. “I was at the Rugby World Cup sevens in San Francisco in 2018 and 75-80% of the crowd on those two or three days was a Fijian crowd.

“So we know there’s a huge fan base there and they have their own commercial aspirations where there are some strong connections for them on the West Coast.”

From a rugby point of view, New Zealand is coming off mediocre performances in two home wins against England this month, and Fiji off a 20-12 win over Georgia. Both teams will be aiming for improvement in this match.

The All Blacks will field a new-look team with six uncapped players and their performances will be important as head coach Scott Robertson looks for improvement ahead of the Rugby Championship starting next month.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

England's George Martin, center, is in a tussle with New Zealand players during their rugby union test match in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Kerry Marshall/photosport via AP)

New Zealand Mark Tele'a scores a try against England during their rugby union test match in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Kerry Marshall/photosport via AP)

New Zealand's team pose with their trophy after defeating England in their rugby union test match in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Brett Phibbs/photosport via AP)

England's Marcus Smith, left, wins a high ball contest with New Zealand's Jordie Barrett during their rugby union test match in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Kerry Marshall/photosport via AP)

England's players lock arms as New Zealand perform the haka ahead of their rugby union test match in Dunedin, New Zealand, Saturday July 6, 2024. (Steve McArthur/Photosport via AP)

England's Ben Earl tackles New Zealand captain Scott Barrett, left, during their rugby union test match in Dunedin, New Zealand, Saturday July 6, 2024. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP)

LONDON (AP) — England raced to 76-1 with Ben Duckett already reaching his half-century before bad light and then rain led to an extended stoppage on the opening day of the third and final test against Sri Lanka on Friday.

Sri Lanka, which is 2-0 down and has already lost the series, failed to take advantage of winning the toss and opting bowl first under thick cloud cover at The Oval. England had only lost the wicket of Dan Lawrence (5) before the umpires deemed the light too poor and took the players off barely an hour into the morning session.

An early lunch was taken but then rain arrived on what was a dank and gloomy day in south London. By mid-afternoon, the players were still off the field and only 15 overs had been bowled.

Duckett was onto 51 for his 10th half-century in 26 tests. He brought his fifty up in 48 balls and has hit seven fours already, the best being a back-foot drive through the covers.

The left-handed Duckett was in the middle with stand-in captain Ollie Pope (14 not out) when play was stopped for bad light despite the floodlights being on at The Oval.

Lawrence, a makeshift opener while Zak Crawley is out injured, only made 9 and 7 at Lord's in the second test and didn't fare any better a week later across London. It took him 11 balls to get off the mark and then he tried to flick a short-of-length delivery from Lahiru Kumara into the leg side, only to misjudge it and top-edge to Pathum Nissanka coming in from gully.

Sri Lanka went with an all-seam attack that looked ideal for the early conditions. Spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was left out and Vishwa Fernando recalled, while No. 3 batter Kusal Mendis also returned to the team.

England gave a debut to 20-year-old left-arm seamer Josh Hull, who has been fast-tracked into the squad despite only taking 16 first-class wickets in 10 matches in his career.

England coach Brendon McCullum has acknowledged it is a “hunch” and a “punt” to bring Hull into the team and is thinking ahead to wanting a left-armer in the attack for future series, including the Ashes next year.

Hull was given his first test cap by former England captain Andrew Flintoff and was seen having his photograph taken with his family on the field before play began.

England, which beat the West Indies 3-0 in their series in July, has already defeated Sri Lanka at Old Trafford and Lord's, and is looking to complete a clean sweep of home test series in a summer for the first time since 2004.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Sri Lanka's Milan Rathnayake bowls on day one of the Third Rothesay Men's Test match between England and Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval, in London, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Sri Lanka's Milan Rathnayake bowls on day one of the Third Rothesay Men's Test match between England and Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval, in London, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

England's Ollie Pope hits for six on day one of the Third Rothesay Men's Test match between England and Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval, in London, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

England's Ben Duckett in action on day one of the Third Rothesay Men's Test match between England and Sri Lanka at The Kia Oval, in London, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)