 Coach John Connolly will bring a squad of 36 to 38 players |
Australia will play three midweek matches as well as four Tests on their European tour in November. The Wallabies will take on Ireland A at Munster's Thomond Park and Scotland A at an as-yet unnamed venue, as well as the Ospreys in Swansea on 1 November.
They already had Tests against Wales (4 Nov), Italy (11 Nov), Ireland (19 Nov) and Scotland (25 Nov) scheduled.
Coach John Connolly will name a squad of 36-38 players after next month's Australian Provincial Championship.
The Australia coach hopes the expanded schedule will provide his squad with more opportunities to play high-quality matches in the lead-up to next year's World Cup in France.
"This will be an extremely important tour," Connolly said. "It's the busiest we've had in a number of years in terms of matches, and it will give all players on the tour an opportunity to see significant playing time."
"We will be selecting the strongest possible squad for the tour with the aim of winning every Test," he added.
"We have one eye on the World Cup next year and will continue to strengthen our player base, but our main focus is on winning Test matches."
Melbourne will host Australia's showpiece Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand next year for the first time since 1998. The Victorian capital will also host a second Bledisloe Test in 2010, as well as internationals against either France or South Africa in 2008 and Italy in 2009.
Wallabies November tour itinerary:
Wednesday, 1 Nov: Ospreys v Australia A, Swansea
Saturday, 4 Nov 4: Wales v Australia, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Saturday, 11 Nov: Italy v Australia, Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Wednesday, 15 Nov: Ireland A v Australia A, Thomond Park, Limerick
Sunday, 19 Nov: Ireland v Australia, Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Tuesday, 21 Nov: Scotland A v Australia A, venue to be confirmed
Saturday, 25 Nov: Scotland v Australia, Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Wednesday, 29 Nov: Barbarians v Australia, venue to be confirmed
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 