History of rugby union matches between Australia and England

The rivalry between England and Australia started on 9 January 1909 at Blackheath's Rectory Field in England. The Wallabies won the match 9-3. The two nations next met in 1928, at Twickenham, and England won 18-11. Twenty years passed before England and Australia next met, again at Twickenham, with Australia winning the 1948 test 11-0. It would then be another decade until the two nations played another test against one another. In 1958, they met again at Twickenham, and England won 9-6.

England and Australia played each other twice during the 1960s, first in 1963, when the Wallabies defeated England 18-9 at Sydney's Sports Ground. They met again in 1967 and Australia triumphed 23-11 at Twickenham. The nations played each other another four times during the 1970s; with England winning 20-3 at Twickenham in 1973, Australia winning 16-9 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1975 and again that year 30-21 at Ballymore, and England winning in 1976, 23-6 at Twickenham.

The two nations would meet six times during the 1980s, the first encounter was in 1982, with England defeating Australia 15-11 at Twickenham. Two years later the Wallabies were victorious at Twickenham, winning 19-3. The next match was a pool match in the 1987 Rugby World Cup at Sydney's Concord Oval in 1987, which Australia won 19-6. The nations played three times in 1988: Australia won 22-16 in Brisbane and 28-8 at the Concord Oval, with England winning the third and final match at Twickenham 28-19.

The sides met three times during the 1990s before the end of amateur era and the introduction of the Cook Cup. The first match was in 1991 at the Sydney Football Stadium, won 40-15 by Australia. The next match was the 1991 Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham, which the Wallabies won 12-6. with Tim Daly scoring the only try of the game. The last pre-Cook Cup match was a quarter-final tie at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. England won 25-22, thanks to a last-minute drop goal by Rob Andrew.

Cook Cup

The Cook Cup came about when the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) agreed to play each other on a home-and-away basis. The first Cook Cup match was played at Sydney's Aussie Stadium on 25 June 1997. Australia won the match 25-6. The series was however to be decided through two tests, and the second took place at Twickenham in London, this resulted in a 15-15 draw. Since Australia won the first test, they were crowned champions.

In 1998 Australia ran out 76-0 winners at Lang Park in Brisbane. The Wallabies were captained by John Eales, and in total, Australia scored 11 tries against a weakened England side. The subsequent meeting at Twickenham saw England lose by just one point, the score being 12-11. The following year, the Cook Cup was decided through one match as opposed to the two Tests. The reason for the format change was due to the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Australia defeated England 22-15 at Stadium Australia. The following year, the Cook Cup was again contested over the single match, due to the 2001 British Lions tour to Australia. The match was played at Twickenham, and England won 22-19 to win their first Cook Cup.

The 2006 match between Australia and England at Telstra Dome.

The single-test format remained for 2002, and England successfully defended their Cook Cup by beating Australia by just one point, 32 to 31 at Twickenham. For 2003, the Cook Cup was again decided over one match, due to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The match was played at Melbourne's Telstra Dome, and England won 25 to 14. Also that year, the two nations met in what is arguably their most famous encounter ever, at the World Cup final. Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal in extra time that saw England win the Rugby World Cup 20-17.

The first post-World Cup match between England and Australia was played at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, in 2004, which saw Australia win 51-15. The 2004 Cook Cup was contested over two matches and the second game was played at Twickenham, with Australia winning 21-19, which saw the Wallabies win the Cook Cup. The 2005 Cook Cup was decided by just the one test, and England won 26-16 at Twickenham. In 2006 both games were won by Australia.

The Cook Cup has been contested every year since, with the exception of the World Cup years (2007, 2011 and 2015). Australia retained the cup in 2008, 2009 and the mid-year tests of 2010, before England regained it in the 2010 end-of-year tests. Australia regained the cup in 2012, but since then England have dominated the series, winning it outright in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Since 1909, England and Australia have played each other 49 times. Australia have won 25 matches, England have won 23, and there has been one draw.

Summary

Overall

Details	Played	Won by  Australia	Won by  England	Drawn	Australia points	England points
In England	27	11	15	1	433	480
In Australia	20	14	6	0	577	330
Neutral venue	2	0	2	0	32	37
Overall	49	25	23	1	1042	847

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Record	Australia	England
Longest winning streak	4 (3 Nov 1984–5 Nov 1988)	5 (18 Nov 2000-22 Nov 2003 & 11 June 2016–present)
Largest points for
Home	76 (6 June 1998)	37 (3 December 2016)
Away	33 (3 October 2015)	44 (25 June 2016)
Largest winning margin
Home	76 (6 June 1998)	24 (18 November 2017)
Away	20 (3 October 2015)	16 (18 June 2016)

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition	Attendance	Ref
1	9 January 1909	Rectory Field, Blackheath	3 – 9	Australia	1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of Britain
2	7 January 1928	Twickenham, London	18 – 11	England	1927–28 Waratahs tour
3	3 January 1948	Twickenham, London	0 – 11	Australia	1947–48 Australia rugby union tour
4	1 February 1958	Twickenham, London	9 – 6	England	1957–58 Australia rugby union tour
5	4 June 1963	Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney	18 – 9	Australia	1963 England rugby union tour of Australasia
6	7 January 1967	Twickenham, London	11 – 23	Australia	1966–67 Australia rugby union tour
7	17 November 1973	Twickenham, London	20 – 3	England	1973 Australia rugby union tour of Europe
8	24 May 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	16 – 9	Australia	1975 England rugby union tour of Australia
9	31 May 1975	Ballymore, Brisbane	30 – 21	Australia
10	3 January 1976	Twickenham, London	23 – 6	England	1975–76 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
11	2 January 1982	Twickenham, London	15 – 11	England	1981–82 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
12	3 November 1984	Twickenham, London	3 – 19	Australia	1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
13	23 May 1987	Concord Oval, Sydney	19 – 6	Australia	1987 Rugby World Cup
14	29 May 1988	Ballymore, Brisbane	22 – 16	Australia	1988 England rugby union tour of Australia and Fiji
15	12 June 1988	Concord Oval, Sydney	28 – 8	Australia
16	5 November 1988	Twickenham, London	28 – 19	England	1988 Australia rugby union tour
17	27 July 1991	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	40 – 15	Australia	1991 England rugby union tour of Australia and Fiji
18	2 November 1991	Twickenham, London	6 – 12	Australia	1991 Rugby World Cup Final
19	11 June 1995	Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa	25 – 22	England	1995 Rugby World Cup
20	12 July 1997	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	25 – 6	Australia	1997 England rugby union tour of Argentina and Australia
21	15 November 1997	Twickenham, London	15 – 15	draw
22	6 June 1998	Lang Park, Brisbane	76 – 0	Australia	1998 England rugby union tour of Australasia and South Africa
23	28 November 1998	Twickenham, London	11 – 12	Australia
24	26 June 1999	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	22 – 15	Australia	1999 England rugby union tour of Australia
25	18 November 2000	Twickenham, London	22 – 19	England
26	10 November 2001	Twickenham, London	21 – 15	England
27	16 November 2002	Twickenham, London	32 – 31	England	2002 end of year rugby union tests
28	21 June 2003	Colonial Stadium, Melbourne	14 – 25	England	2003 England rugby union tour of Australasia
29	22 November 2003	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	17 – 20	England	2003 Rugby World Cup Final	82,957
30	26 June 2004	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	51 – 15	Australia	2004 England rugby union tour of Australasia
31	27 November 2004	Twickenham, London	19 – 21	Australia	2004 Autumn Internationals
32	12 November 2005	Twickenham, London	26 – 16	England	2005 Autumn Internationals	62,000	[1]
33	11 June 2006	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	34 – 3	Australia	2006 mid-year rugby test series	60,124
34	17 June 2006	Telstra Dome, Melbourne	43 – 18	Australia		41,278
35	6 October 2007	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France	10 – 12	England	2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final	59,102
36	15 November 2008	Twickenham, London	14 – 28	Australia	2008 Autumn International	80,688
37	7 November 2009	Twickenham, London	9 – 18	Australia	2009 Autumn International	80,020
38	12 June 2010	Subiaco Oval, Perth	27 – 17	Australia	2010 England rugby union tour of Australasia	32,228
39	19 June 2010	Telstra Stadium, Sydney	20 – 21	England		48,392
40	13 November 2010	Twickenham, London	35 – 18	England	2010 Autumn International	80,002
41	17 November 2012	Twickenham, London	14 – 20	Australia	2012 Autumn International	81,361
42	2 November 2013	Twickenham, London	20 – 13	England	2013 Autumn International	81,500
43	29 November 2014	Twickenham, London	26 – 17	England	2014 Autumn International	82,044
44	3 October 2015	Twickenham, London	13 – 33	Australia	2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A	81,010
45	11 June 2016	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	28 – 39	England	2016 England rugby union tour of Australia	48,128
46	18 June 2016	AAMI Park, Melbourne	7 – 23	England		29,871
47	25 June 2016	Allianz Stadium, Sydney	40 – 44	England		44,063
48	3 December 2016	Twickenham, London	37 – 21	England	2016 Autumn International	81,787
49	18 November 2017	Twickenham, London	30 – 6	England	2017 Autumn International	81,909

Notable Meetings

See also

• Cook Cup

References

External links