Ireland To Play Wallabies In Perth

Subiaco Oval 1999 – Brian O’Driscoll trying to break past Australia’s Daniel Herbert during the second Test. O’Driscoll, aged 20, was earning his second cap as Ireland, having led 11-9 at half-time, lost 32-26 by the finish in Perth.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) have confirmed that Ireland’s 2006 summer tour Test against Australia will take place at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on June 24.

It will be Ireland’s third ever visit to the Western Australian venue. An Irish side coached by Warren Gatland lost 32-26 to the Wallabies there on June 19, 1999. The second Test on Ireland’s ’99 tour Down Under was watched by 26,267 spectators at the Subiaco Oval, which hosted the 2005 International Rules Series’ first Test between Ireland and Australia on October 21 last.

Australia also got the better of Ireland, this time led by current coach Eddie O’Sullivan, at the Oval on June 7, 2003, in the lead-up to the last Rugby World Cup. An attendance of 39,787 saw Australia claim a 45-16 win.

Since 1998, Australia have earned five wins and a draw in six Test matches played in Perth.

Subiaco Oval 2003 – Australian captain and scrum-half George Gregan, now the world record caps holder, pictured holding the Lansdowne Cup aloft after the Aussies’ five-try 45-16 win.

The Wallabies, who are currently searching for a new coach following the departure of Eddie Jones, also beat Ireland 17-16 in a RWC Pool game the following November in Melbourne, and Jones saw a run of seven straight defeats – Australia’s worst losing streak in 36 years – ended at Lansdowne Road last month as Australia beat Ireland 30-14 in the second autumn international of the current season.

Having now lost three-in-a-row to the Aussies, Ireland will be all out to gain revenge and grasp back the Lansdowne Cup on June 24 next year.

The Lansdowne Cup was established in 1999 when it was donated to the ARU by the Lansdowne club of Sydney as a perpetual trophy between Australia and Ireland. Like the Lansdowne club, the Cup is named after Ireland’s home ground in Dublin and was designed and made by Waterford Crystal.

Tickets for the Australia v Ireland clash in 2006 are expected to go on sale in May. Date and venue details for Ireland’s two Tests against New Zealand next June are also to be confirmed shortly.