Australia and the Barbarians have played each other 12 times, of which Australia has won the most, with nine victories.
The first match between the teams was played at Cardiff Arms Park on 31 January 1948 as a fundraiser to help pay for the Australian team's matches in Canada on their way home. The Barbarians won 9–6, and the match began a tradition for teams from the Southern Hemisphere to end tours of the British Isles with a match against the Barbarians. [1]
The summary below is for all matches where test caps were awarded by both national unions, which leaves out all 24 meetings from 1920 to 1928, in which the governing New Zealand Rugby Union fielded the second level New Zealand XV team rather than the highest All Blacks team. The Australian Rugby Union retroactively awarded test status caps to its own players for those matches.
| Details | Played | Won by Australia | Won by Barbarians | Drawn | Australia points | Barbarian points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Australia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 35 |
| In Great Britain | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 349 | 227 |
| Overall | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 435 | 262 |
Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.
| Record | Australia | Barbarians |
|---|---|---|
| Longest winning streak | 10 (15 December 1984 – present) | 2 (31 January 1948 – 28 January 1967) |
| Largest points for | ||
| Home | 55 (6 June 2009) | 36 (1 November 2014) |
| Away | 60 (26 November 2011) | 28 (28 October 2017) |
| Largest winning margin | ||
| Home | 48 (6 June 2009) | 12 (24 January 1976) |
| Away | 49 (26 November 2011) | — |
| Most aggregate points | ||
| 84 (Barbarians 35–49 Australia) (28 November 2001) | ||
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The Canada national rugby union team represents the Canadian Rugby Union in international rugby union competitions. They are overseen by Rugby Canada the governing body of rugby union in Canada.
John Fergus Slattery is a former rugby union player who represented Ireland. An open-side flanker, he played schools rugby for Blackrock College and then moved on to play senior rugby for UCD, before earning a call up to the Ireland team in 1970. He subsequently left UCD to join Blackrock College R.F.C. During his career Slattery earned 61 caps, 18 as captain, and scored three tries. In 1971, he was a member of the British and Irish Lions squad that toured New Zealand, missing out on a start in the third Test due to illness. He played for the Barbarians in the famous 1973 game against the All Blacks in Cardiff. Slattery toured with the Lions again in 1974, playing in all four Tests and captaining the side for two provincial matches. He was captain of the most successful Irish touring side ever in 1979 which won 7 of the 8 matches in Australia, including the two Tests in Brisbane and Sydney. In addition to the above honours, he was a member of the Irish Triple Crown-winning team in 1982.
Alun Wyn Jones is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a lock. He played most of his career for Ospreys and for the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps for Wales and 12 for the British & Irish Lions, and also holds the records for the most Wales caps and the second most Wales caps as captain. He retired from rugby in 2023.
Alfred Ronald Dawson played hooker for Ireland. He was captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
John Vivian Pullin was an England international rugby union player. A hooker, he played club rugby for Bristol Rugby and captained the England national rugby union team for which he played 42 times between 1966 and 1976. He also won 7 full caps for the British & Irish Lions and has the distinction of having beaten the All Blacks with three different sides, England, the Lions and the Barbarians.
Rodger Arneil is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was played on two British and Irish Lions tours - to South Africa in 1968 and New Zealand in 1971, the second tour as a replacement.
A test match in rugby union is an international match, usually played between two senior national teams, that is recognised as such by at least one of the teams' national governing bodies.
The first clash in Rugby Union between Australia and New Zealand took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3.
New Zealand and Argentina have been playing each other in the sport of Rugby Union since 1976.
Enrique "Topo"Edgardo Rodríguez is an Argentina-born Australian former rugby union player.
The 1974 New Zealand rugby union tour of Ireland, Wales and England was a series of eight matches played by the New Zealand national rugby union team in November 1974.
The 2011 mid-year rugby union tests featured only seven matches due to the upcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup. No test series took place, although the Barbarians did play two matches in the United Kingdom; England and Wales. New Zealand and Australia hosted a respective Tier 2 side, Australia hosted Samoa, New Zealand hosted Fiji. Argentina hosted the French Barbarians, while Japan played a Top League XV side in Tokyo.
For the most recent Mid-year window go to 2022 July rugby union tests
The 2013 end of year rugby tests, also known as the 2013 Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were a series of international rugby union matches predominantly played between European sides - England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, and visiting Southern Hemisphere countries - Argentina, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa and Tonga.
The 2014 mid-year rugby union internationals were international rugby union matches mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the June international window.
In June 2014, England played a three test series against New Zealand as part of the 2014 mid-year rugby union tests. They played the All Blacks across the three weeks that the June International window is allocated to; 7 June–21 June, and contested the Hillary Shield, in which England has won once to New Zealand's four. The series was part of the second year of the global rugby calendar established by the International Rugby Board, which runs through to 2019. In addition to the test series, England also played Super Rugby side Crusaders, in a mid-week uncapped match ahead of the third test in Hamilton. They also played the Barbarians at Twickenham, for their annual meeting at the stadium before the tour.
The 2022 mid-year rugby union internationals were international rugby union matches that were mostly played in the Southern Hemisphere during the July international window. For the first time since 2018 all leading Northern Hemisphere teams toured, following a cancelled calendar in 2020 and a largely reversed calendar in 2021.
Alan Ashcroft was an English rugby union player who played in the Number 8 position. Ashcroft played club rugby with Waterloo FC, was capped 16 times for England, and was a member of the British Lions team that toured in 1959.
