Wallabies confirm French tour dates

2016? must be all settled, and somewhere on IRB site for future tours to Australia? This from allblacks.com 2010 that gave their 8-years tours The schedule for the June tours to New Zealand from 2012 to 2019 is: • 2012 Ireland – 3 Test matches • 2013 France – 3 Test matches • 2014 England – 3 Test matches • 2015 RWC 2015 (England) – no June or November tours. • 2016 Wales – 3 Test matches • 2017 British & Irish Lions Tour • 2018 France – 3 Test matches • 2019 RWC 2019 (Japan) – no June or November tours.

My first thought too: why Etihad and not the better suited Aami Park? Australia-Wales only attracted a crowd of 33,000 to Etihad last year, and a few years ago Australia-Italy only got 26,000, so I'm pretty sure that the 30,000-seater Aami Park would suffice for the visit of France. And I agree, it's a far better environment to watch rugby in than Etihad's oval too.

They should just introduce mid-week games again as well against the Super sides.

Etihad Stadium is a little ambitious. I think oval stadia are not good for Rugby since the fans are too far from the field. I'm also a little hesitant at France's drawing power in a non-Rugby city like Melbourne. If the ARU was okay with Allianz Stadium I don't know why they wouldn't go for AAMI Park. Smaller capacity but likely a better atmosphere. Oh, right. Money.

I can agree with that. It lends a certain aura to the tours south when they're a Test series. It differentiates it with the EOYT matches as well. GIven the NH teams typically play all their games at one stadium it wouldn't make sense to have three straight games against the same opponents. But in the SH where teams play in multiple stadia, it does work.

Great. Let's hope for 3 mid week games during tour too: venues Canberra, Gosford and Gold Coast? The ARU might as well get the extra revenue and it's a great experience for the non-Wallaby Australian rugby players to face an international team. No brainer?

I think it should be a great series, and I'm quietly confident that this French team will do a lot better in the 6N and continue to build over the next two years. I'm not yet a PSA fan, but he has undeniable talent at his disposal, and there was much to like in the last three games.

What a refreshing string of comments!

I think Australia will be hosting something similar it's in the future tours schedule. The problem with a three test tour to places like Ireland and Wales the tests will all be at the same venue which defeats the purpose of a test series.

My thoughts the same - they've booked the dates and the venue, but do they know which French team is coming?

Well there are 3 tests so it should be 3 different French teams?

Interesting enough since the English first played in Twickenham back in 1910 they have played 283 test matches at home and only six of them outside of Twickenham. Maybe you don't need three stadiums you play the lot at Murryfield?

I wouldn't mind a little tournament like what the Saffas did this year, we could invite Samoa, Fiji and Italy or something like that.

That used to happen (not the Samoa thing) and was dropped in favour of a return to tours where it was believed there would be more interest than in one off Tests.

Has the potential to be a great series, all depends on which French team shows up.

So who do we get to tour in 2016 when the Lions are next on? A full home and away series v the Argies or SA? Italy? Samoa/Pacific Warriors? Do the Barbarians tour again? I must admit, I would like to see a 3-test series v Wales, England or Ireland in the NH. I'd add Scotland to the list, but I dont know if there are three separate rugby stadiums in Scotland. Or even two. I'd also like to see midweek games for the dirt-trackers, and starting the tour a week early with a Test in Georgia (or fly the dirt-trackers over there concurrently for a Test).

We often host a dinner at our house for one of the inbound tests not played in Brisbane. I think i will ask Darling to get up to speed with her baguette preparation along with Duck A'la Ronge followed by profiteroles. Washed down with some Burgundy I suspect. I know Sheek will be dusting off the beret and Marcel Marceau striped shirt for the Sydney Test ;)

D Good idea - it can be the NH teams EOYT. But try telling ARU & NZRU to give up the current 3-test programs and of course the age-old issue of travel logistics and costs. Still a good idea tho'....

France could bounce back and win the Six Nations this year - who knows what they will/can do? Has it ever been floated to share the NH teams around when they come down here? I mean, we never go up there and play three test matches against France. So why doesn't France come down for one test apiece against Australia, NZ and Samoa for example? The other side to that coin is we get to host three different NH nations if say Italy and England did the same. Plus, we don't run into what happened against Wales last year where we didn't *really* care about tests 2 and 3.