Did the Wallabies just miss their best chance to end Bledisloe drought?

The Bledisloe Cup has been gone a long time. Australian kids who have never seen a Wallaby lift the big silver urn are now blowing out candles on 21st birthday cakes and leaving university.

Some of them will have even had children of their own. Digest that for a second: we are into a second generation of Bledisloe drought sufferers.

It is not the Wallabies’ longest stretch without the Bledisloe Cup – that was between 1949-79 – but as the squad settles in Wellington this week to finish up another already-lost Bledisloe Cup series, the future of the famous trans-Tasman trophy has become topical again.

Namely, how many games should the All Blacks and the Wallabies play every year?

After the Wallabies’ three-point defeat to the All Blacks last weekend, coach Joe Schmidt was asked if he would like to see the format return to a three-game series.

After a decade of playing best-of-three (and sometimes four) – as part of a commercial deal struck between RA and NZR – the series was reduced to two games in 2022, by mutual agreement. The lack of competitive tension was not cited, but it didn’t take much to read between the lines.

The All Blacks perform the haka in Sydney.Credit: Getty Images

The two-game series means New Zealand only have to win one game to retain the trophy, though.

“We’d love it to be still alive. I think the people, the public in Wellington [would too],” Schmidt said. “It’s sold out and it would be a cracking atmosphere but if there was something live on the game.”

Australia benefited from the same two-game system during the ‘golden era’ at the turn of the century, when it held the Bledisloe Cup for five years – but drew 1-1 in three of them.

Australia, who lost the trophy in 2003, have drawn a two-game series five times in the subsequent drought: 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Stirling Mortlock offloads for a Wallabies try in 2007 at the MCG.Credit: Getty

But the task of beating New Zealand twice in a year has, obviously, proved beyond the Wallabies. And they’re not alone – in 350 Test matches since 1996, only seven teams have managed to beat the All Blacks in consecutive Tests within a year.

They were Australia (1998), South Africa (1998), Australia (2001), South Africa (2009), Ireland (2022), South Africa (2023) and, in the past month, South Africa again in 2024.

It’s a bloody hard mission to complete. And in Australia’s case, the same graveyard venue has played roadblock in multiple Bledisloe campaigns.

Since the 2004 Bledisloe Cup, the trophy has been live going into the second game six times. And all six times, the second Test was played at Eden Park – where the All Blacks haven’t lost since 1994.

All Blacks captain Scott Barrett holds the Bledisloe Cup aloft.Credit: Getty Images

All of which has highlighted the lost opportunity of the Wallabies’ narrow defeat at Accor Stadium on Saturday.

This year may have been Australia’s best chance since 2003 to snap the drought.

That may sound like another crazy hot-take from a bizarre, fever-dream game; in which the Wallabies played so poorly for an hour they could have conceded 50-plus for a second straight match but somehow raged home to only lose by three.

Had the Wallabies not gone so far behind, or at least been clinical in attack when up by two players between the 71st and 75th minutes, the win was there for the taking against a wobbly All Blacks.

And then – for the first time – this week they would have avoided the Eden Park graveyard for a decider. The second clash is in Wellington, where the All Blacks haven’t won a Test since 2018.

Will the Bledisloe Cup series ever return to three games?

Phil Waugh has already indicated RA want to restore the third game as part the next broadcast deal offering. Bledisloe games still sell – and rate – well in Australia.

The Wallabies draw well away from Eden Park, and Wellington this week is a sell-out. A competitive showing by the Wallabies, and possibly even a win, wouldn’t be loved but it may also be grudgingly accepted by some in New Zealand, who crave more competitiveness and jeopardy in games against Australia.

And so with that in mind, here is a potential solution to the Bledisloe Cup question to throw in the mix.

With Australia and New Zealand negotiating an ANZAC Day Test in 2026 – which would be followed by more trans-Tasman games later in the winter – why not make the first game in Perth a one-off, winner-take-all prizefight?

The Cup could go back on the line again six months later in a second series.

But putting the Bledisloe Cup on the line for 80 minutes in Perth could add enormous jeopardy, drastically escalate the stakes – and energise a famous old rivalry – with one simple act.

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