Bledisloe Cup 2009

Editorial

When: 8pm, Sat 22 Aug 2009
Where: Sydney Olympic Park, ANZ Stadium
Tickets: $44.50-$257
Bookings: Ticketek 132-849

Battling it out over four games, the Qantas Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks will have fans in Sydney and Brisbane leaping from their seats, and for the first time, the series will be extended with a fourth Test in Japan in November.

First contested in 1931 when the then Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe, presented the Cup as a perpetual Rugby trophy and a token of good will between Australia and New Zealand, it has been vigorously contested as a single Test match or as a two or three Test series, followed by the establishment of the Tri Nations series in 1995 played on a home and away basis.

In 1998, The Wallabies regained the Bledisloe Cup with a three nil series victory, and retained it until 1999 when the match in Sydney drew a world record crowd.

Australia went on to retain the Bledisloe Cup for the next three years until 2003 when the All Blacks won it back in 2004 and have retained the trophy ever since.

All up, New Zealand has scored a series win of 38, with Australia determined to claw back from a series win of only 12.

Crystal James, Citysearch