Start of things to come?

theboss80

Wales announce Australia December Test.

James Bevan Trophy - Wales v Australia
Venue: Millennium Stadium Date: Saturday, 3 December Kick-off: 1430 GMT Coverage: Exclusively live on BBC TV & online

Wales will play their first December Test for 15 years when Warren Gatland's men host Australia in a post-World Cup friendly at the Millennium Stadium.

The Aussies will visit Cardiff on 3 December, the weekend before the third round of Heineken Cup pool fixtures.

"The Wales v Australia match is the perfect culmination of Wales' Rugby World Cup efforts," said WRU group head of sales and marketing Craig Maxwell.

"And the start of a new chapter as we look ahead to the 2012 Six Nations."

Do we expect that there will be similar announcements for December tests?

andrewdcs

Is there an international window in December for the Magners sorry, Pro12 league? Not entirely sure there is....

Perhaps opportunity for scratch teams, but that's a hella lot of Rugby for anyone who should expect a 1/4 final spot at least.

sock puppet

Didn't they do something like this after the last world cup as well?

CatFromHue

This is stupid!

Leinster host Cardiff and Lanelli go to Ulster on Fri 2nd, Munster go to the Ospreys on the same day, and The Dragons host Glasgow on the Sunday.

What state will the Australian players be in as they won't have played any games since the World Cup and won't again until the start of the Super XV 2 months after the game.

I hope to God that the IRFU have more sense than this. It just pisses all over what the clubs are trying to achieve and will be ultimately a pointless game.

theboss80

Ya they played the Boks in their first game after winning the world cup. Maybe Wales are assuming an Oz win in October and are planning ahead.;)

andrewdcs

heh, kind of a World cup tag.... Then if Ireland beat Wales, WE have the world cup... until we lose to Scotland.

I think its the fairest way, but massively question playing 'tests' outside of agreed international breaks. player welfare not high on the agenda in Wales... are they broke?

theboss80

Well look at it this way it will give the fans a chance to see a game after the world cup is over so the stadium will be full and it might be a rerun of a quarter final and a chance for redemption for either team.

Either way its all about money I'd say

justsomebloke

Will be interesting to see how many foreign based players will be released for this

Sabre0001

I wonder if they're going to award some sort of trophy for this :rolleyes: