The Rugby Historian

Author: Jer McLachlan

In our previous blog, we pointed out that the Wallabies have been going through a turbulent time since the last Lions tour to Australia in 2013, making them firm underdogs heading into this year’s edition. After a disastrous 2023, one of the worst years in their history, the Wallabies recovered in 2024, with encouraging displays in their Autumn Internationals. Still, this is an inexperienced team with a new coach trying to find its identity and regain its position at the top end of Test rugby. It is remarkable that in 1989, when the British and Irish Lions were about to embark on their first full-length tour of Australia, Australian rugby was in a very similar situation.

In this blog, we explore the similarities between the situation the Wallabies faced in 1989 and their current shaky state, as well as the potential turnaround the team could experience very soon.

When the Wallabies completed their first Grand Slam-winning tour to the United Kingdom in 1984, they were riding the crest of a wave. Despite their narrow defeat against the All Blacks (9-10) in Auckland in 1985, they were able to maintain their pre-eminent position in world rugby right through 1986 when they won six of the seven test matches they played during the season, including a 2-1 series victory against the All Blacks. Consequently, they were one of the strong favourites to win the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.

The Wallabies duly won all their pool matches but came unstuck in the semi-final match against France, which is still remembered for the try scored by Serge Blanco. After this reverse, there was a sudden downturn in the Wallabies’ results. They lost the third/fourth place play-off match against Wales and then lost the Bledisloe Cup against the new world champions, New Zealand, 30-16. Their form further declined soon after, when the Wallabies lost a test series against Argentina in Argentina 0-1, drawing the first test 19-all before losing the second 27-19. The results were a great surprise, especially since the Australians had beaten Argentina 2-0 in a home test series in 1986, overcoming their opponents by 20 points in the first Test and 26 points in the second.

A major change was needed, and when Bob Dwyer took over as head coach of the Wallabies in 1988, he was in much the same position that Joe Schmidt found himself in 2024. In 1988, Dwyer’s Wallabies won four of their eight test matches, beating England twice, but were comprehensively beaten by the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup series. Consequently, the British and Irish Lions were the firm favourites to win the upcoming series in 1989. Worryingly, in the run-up to the Test matches, some deep divisions in Australian rugby were revealed. In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald of 28 June 1989, Paul Dalton, the coach of the New South Wales B team that played against the Lions, bluntly stated that Australia had no chance of beating the British Lions, since they lacked the necessary aggression and skill. He predicted that Australia would be whitewashed 0-3 in the upcoming test series.

This doomsday prediction turned out to be wrong, since the Wallabies won the first Test by a record margin of 30 to 12 and the tour ended 2-1 for the Lions, the last match being decided by a single point. However, the Wallabies’ lack of aggression was a recurring theme during this series. Peter Jenkins in Wallaby Gold The history of Australian Test rugby, 2003, refers to Dwyer’s remarks in his book, The Winning Way, where he said the following:

“They [the British Lions] exposed our vulnerability to the kind of bully-boy tactics they employed… I had a feeling even before this that a number of the players who had played for Australia in the previous few years were not as hard-nosed as they needed to be.”

After the Lions tour, Dwyer decided to address this shortcoming and was of the opinion that a full-on revamp of the Wallabies was needed. In selecting his team for the once-off Bledisloe Cup game against New Zealand in August 1989, less than a month after the nail-biting finale against the Lions, he introduced Tim Horan, Phil Kearns and Tony Daly into the team. By choosing Phil Kearns, who played for the New South Wales B team at this stage, Dwyer indicated that established reputations would not be enough to ensure a place in the Wallaby Test team moving forward.

Dwyer continued this approach when selecting the Wallabies for the 1989 end-of-year tour to Canada and France. Twelve of the thirty-man touring squad were newcomers to international rugby, while eleven members had less than ten test matches to their credit. The Wallabies were given no chance to win the first Test against France, but emerged as the victors 32 points to 15, their highest score and biggest winning margin against France up until that point. With five debutants in the Wallaby team, they had a combined total of a mere 153 tests, while France fielded a team with a combined total of 412 tests.

Since 1989, British and Irish Lions tours have been interspersed with the Rugby World Cup with two-year intervals between them. The bold decision taken by Dwyer to revamp the Wallabies after the series defeat to the Lions in 1989 bore the ultimate fruit of becoming World Champions in the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Fifteen of the team that went on the tour to Canada and France in 1989 were members of the 1991 Rugby World Cup squad, with rookies on that tour, such as Tim Horan, Jason Little, Peter Slattery, Phil Kearns, Rod McCall, Tony Daly and Ewen McKenzie proving vital for their success.

Joe Schmidt and his Wallaby team face a formidable task when they take on the British and Irish Lions in July and August this year. However, Schmidt has already commenced the revamp of the Wallabies that is needed to give them a realistic chance of winning the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Over the course of 2024, Schmidt introduced 19 new players to international rugby and secured some noteworthy results and performances along the way. If history does indeed repeat itself, a core of these 19 players may well be the stars that Australia need to re-establish their rightful place in the world of rugby. Whether the Wallabies win or lose the upcoming series with the British and Irish Lions, 2025 may be a watershed year for them.