2006 Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series and Tri Nations Series

[Burgs]

2006 Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series and Tri Nations Series

December 16, 2005 - 11:21am
Story by: ARU


The 2006 Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series has now been confirmed after the South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby Unions (SANZAR) finalised the schedule for the new, expanded Tri Nations series today.
The Qantas Wallabies will play six Tests at home in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, as well as two away Tests in New Zealand and one in South Africa.
It is a bumper year for Australian Rugby fans, with five big trophies up for grabs - the Cook Cup (England), Lansdowne Cup (Ireland), Mandela Plate (South Africa), Bledisloe Cup (New Zealand) and the Tri Nations Trophy.
The season gets underway when the Wallabies take on England in Sydney on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, with the ARU currently considering playing this Test on the Sunday night (11 June).
The 2nd Test against England will be played in Melbourne the next weekend (17 June), with the Wallabies needing to win both Tests, or at least secure a win and a draw, to get their hands back on the Cook Cup.
This will be followed by the Lansdowne Cup Test against Ireland in Perth on 24 June, before the inaugural nine-match Tri Nations series kicks off in Christchurch on 8 July with the first of three Bledisloe Cup Tests. It is the first time the grand old silverware has been contested over a three-Test series since Australia's clean sweep in 1998.
The Wallabies will host the Springboks in Brisbane on 15 July, before Bledisloe Cup Rugby makes a triumphant return to Brisbane on 29 July for the first time since 1996.
This will be followed by a home Test against the Springboks on 5 August in Sydney, and two weeks later the deciding Bledisloe Cup Test will be played in Auckland on a date to be confirmed. The NZRU are currently exploring the possibility of this being a Friday night Test, so it is currently scheduled as either Friday 18 or Saturday 19 August.
The action then heads to the Republic with the last three Tri Nations Tests in South Africa, including the Wallabies third Test against the Springboks on 9 September.
ARU Managing Director and CEO Gary Flowers said 2006 would be a bumper year for Rugby fans.
"We have an action-packed Test schedule in 2006 against the world's top teams.
"Rugby fans will see the Wallabies play nine Tests in total, including a total of six Tests in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
"The Tooheys New Super 14 kicks off in only 56 days and will be followed closely by the Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series, so there will be seven months of wall-to-wall Rugby from February 10 until September 9 next year."



Sat 10/Sun 11 June (TBC)*
Wallabies v England
Cook Cup
Sydney

Saturday 17 June
Wallabies v England
Cook Cup
Melbourne

Saturday 24 June
Wallabies v Ireland
Lansdowne Cup
Perth

Saturday 8 July
All Blacks v Wallabies
Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup
Christchurch

Saturday 15 July
Wallabies v Springboks
Tri Nations and Mandela Plate
Brisbane

Saturday 22 July
All Blacks v Springboks
Tri Nations
Wellington

Saturday 29 July
Wallabies v All Blacks
Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup
Brisbane

Saturday 5 August
Wallabies v Springboks
Tri Nations and Mandela Plate
Sydney

Saturday 12 August
Bye



Fri 18/Sat 19 August (TBC)
All Blacks v Wallabies
Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup
Auckland

Saturday 26 August
Springboks v All Blacks
Tri Nations
TBC

Saturday 2 September
Springboks v All Blacks
Tri Nations
TBC

Saturday 9 September
Springboks v Wallabies
Tri Nations and Mandela Plate
TBC


* Queen's Birthday long weekend

[Burgs]

Whoever the new Coach is for the Wallabies, let's hope they get us back up to speed quickly as there are certainly no "soft" fixtures in 2006!
This is an ideal calender leading up to France 07 if the squad can lift but could be devestating if we lose the first few matches.
A pretty quick turn around for any S14 Finalists as well, with the Final on the 27th of May and the first Cook Cup match on the 10th or 11th of June.

[.X.]

Gee I guess I will have to go to the England Test, and the Springbok Test, and it looks like i am going to Brisbane for the Bledisloe.

Well that is my plan for 2006. Yet to be confirmed by "She who must be obeyed" aka Mrs TCIE

[peterss]

Tough draw for 06 for us.......The Irish Tets over here should be a beauty

[Chief]

They could've at least given us Perth fans a bit more of a contest! :p
Am surprised the Springboks clash isn't here....after the hype this year with a considerable percentage of the Perth population being South African...

[Burgs]

Maybe they figure that with the support for rugby in WA at the moment Ireland will sell better in Perth than over East and they can get a bigger crowd in Sydney with the Boks than Ireland to maximise cash flow? The crowd was just under 40k last time Ireland was in Perth.
Bit of a bugger though, I'll miss not getting my dose of "Percy bagging" for the year!
After the hairy backs I would think the Irish are the biggest expat rugger followers in Perth, at least for having a good time after the match anyway!
The fixture would have better suited the Wallabies being before the Cook Cup matches too I reckon as about the only "soft" fixture for the season.
As written elsewhere, hopefully it gives us some brownie points towards getting a Bledisloe match here soon!

[Sagerian]

Bit of a bugger though, I'll miss not getting my dose of "Percy bagging" for the year!

Haha were you at the game this year? We had megaphones and kept yelling "Great kick superboot!", "Ooooh, almost. Maybe next time..." after every drop goal attempt..

*in South African accent* "Wot da fook Percy? Why not try another drop goal eh?"

[Burgs]

Ours was more along the lines of a very long P p p p e e e e r r r r r c c c c y y y y y y over and over again interspersed with some pretty crude suggestions by a big fella with us as to what he was going to do with Percy's head when he came over the fence for him and other general advice as to how to play the game. I'm normally a very supportive spectator for the opposition but Perc seems to bring out the worst in our crew!

[Burgs]

We were surrounded by families this year so couldn't get to carried away though. Every time we uped the anti a mother in front would turn around and whack us with her program! All in good fun mind you, not as an old crone!

[Sagerian]

Haha well yes I'm also supportive of the opposition but agreed, Percy is an exception. It might just be that I don't like the "drop goal" aspect of our game and he seems to be a ringleader of it.

Fair call.. We were surrounded by 20-somethings so it was game on for us.