Grand Slam

The Wallabies' 2009 grand slam tour of the British Isles is about to get underway. This will be the first time that the Australian national rugby team has undertaken a tour with test matches against all four home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) since 1984 when Australia successfully completed the grand slam for the first time (Australia was previously unsuccessful in 1927/8, 1947/8, 1957/1958, 1966/7, 1975/6 and 1981/2 and even has the ignomy of being the only Southern Hemisphere team to have suffered a grand slam of defeats against all four home nations in 1957/8). Until the grand slam of 1984, Australia was not considered a rugby union heavyweight, with rugby league being a much more popular form of rugby football in Australia than the globally dominant rugby union (something which is still the case), very low public exposure of the game and patchy international form. The 1984 tour changed that, marking the beginning of a new era of Australian rugby union success. Many of the young players on that tour would go on to become household names of Australian rugby, even enjoying future world cup success.

What are Australia's prospects for a 2009 grand slam? It's hard to say since Australian rugby finds itself in a difficult period. After the successes of the 1990s and early 2000s (Australia won the world cup in 1991 and 1999, and were runners up at the 2003 world cup and has also enjoyed success against the Lions in 2001 as well as an unprecedented period of dominance in the Bledisloe Cup [1998-2002] and also winning the Tri-Nations tournament [2000 and 2001]), Australian rugby has been in a state of steady decline, arguably raching its nadir at the 2007 world cup. Since then Australian rugby has been rebuilding. After a relatively promising 2008 tour to the British Isles just over a year after the 2007 world cup debacle, the team performed below expectations in the 2009 Tri-Nations (with really only one good performance at home against South Africa in Brisbane). This time around, Australia should be expected to chalk up wins against England and Scotland who are also below their best, but the matches against Ireland and Wales will be tighter affairs. Ireland at home will be a tough prospect and in my view the crucial match of the tour. This match will make or break the grand slam for Australia. Assuming that Australia wins against both England and Scotland as expected and also goes into the final match against Wales already having beaten Ireland then I think they will carry on and beat the Welsh for the grand slam. If, not, well it's all fairly academic anyway.


So seeing an Australian grand slam in 2009 is far from a certainty. It would be nice but I'm not banking on it. Anyway, here are some highlights of the last Australian grand slam in 1984 for you to enjoy.

1. England vs Australia (3 November 1984, Twickenham)



2. Ireland v Australia (10 November 1984, Lansdowne Road)



3. Wales vs Australia (24 November 1984, Cardiff Arms Park)



4. Scotland vs Australia (8 December 1984, Murrayfield)