Rugby Australia courting Ireland for Grand Slam tour

Rugby Australia is attempting to persuade Ireland to play a Test against the Wallabies in November which would set up a possible Grand Slam tour.

Dave Rennie’s Wallabies could attempt a Grand Slam tour. Picture: Stuart Walmsley

Rugby Australia is attempting to persuade Ireland to play a Test against the Wallabies on their planned European tour in November which, if it becomes a reality, would set up a possible Grand Slam tour.

Australia is already playing England, Scotland and Wales on the tour. Hence the appeal of adding Ireland. If the Wallabies were to pull off all four victories, they would emulate Andrew Slack’s side of 1984 which beat England 19-3, Ireland 16-9, Wales 28-9 and Scotland 37-12 to become the only Australian team to go through the Home Unions undefeated in internationals.

That memorable triumph, in which Mark Ella scored a try in each of the four Tests, was like a coming of age for the Wallabies who two years later beat the All Blacks in a series in New Zealand. Five years later Australia won the first of its two world titles.

The Wallabies had a fair stab at replicating the 1984 feat in 2009 when they beat England 18-9, drew with Ireland 20-20, were edged out by Scotland 9-8 but finished their campaign with a 30-12 victory over Wales.

Perhaps had Ewen McKenzie’s side of 2013 realised how events would pan out, they might have lifted to sweep their European opponents. They led England at the halftime break but were eventually beaten 20-13 at Twickenham. Thereafter, however, they enjoyed a clean sheet, scoring successive victories over Italy 50-20, Ireland 32-15, Scotland 21-15 and Wales 30-26. All this in a tour disrupted by McKenzie imposing a one-week Test ban on six of his players for overstaying their curfew.

“If we can make it happen, we would be delighted,” said Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan. “We have spoken to Ireland. We would love to make it happen and if it works for Ireland, we are up for it.”

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is excited that Australia will play virtually every serious World Cup contender this year in the build-up to 2023 and the tournament in France.

“Our schedule, we are going to play all the top sides in the world, a number of them multiple times,” Rennie told The Australian. Obviously we will play France three times (in July), we will play the Springboks and the Argentinians twice (in The Rugby Championship) and the All Blacks three more times. We know we are playing England, Scotland and Wales. There is talk about adding Ireland to that at the end of the year. So when you look at all those teams, it is a great season for us.”

And although the talk coming out of Britain is that Australia’s proposal to host the British and Irish Lions tour against the Springboks may ultimately be rejected, there is no official word from either party. The next Lions board meeting is not until the end of the month.

It was difficult to tell precisely whether McLennan made more of a hit in Britain with his comments around Brexit than he did by inviting the Lions and Springboks to bring the three Tests to Australia.

“The Australians may or may not have forgiven the Brits for joining the EU in 1973 but post-Brexit, what a great way to get things going again, working together on the rugby tour,” McLennan told The Sunday Times. Reportedly, the tongue-in-cheek remark triggered more reader response than did his original offer for Australia to host the tour.

Meanwhile, as RA launched Super Rugby AU on Wednesday, the Western Force has bitten the bullet by announcing Ian Prior as captain of the club.

Prior is an exceptional captain, one who has done the job since taking over from Matt Hodgson in 2018. But his appointment does creates tension in that he plays halfback, the same position as leading Argentinian recruit Tomas Cubelli.