Wallabies

Australia coach Robbie Deans praised the "courage" of his side as they started a quest for a grand slam over the home unions with an 18-9 victory against England at Twickenham. The Wallabies are attempting to mark the 25th anniversary of the lauded 1984 side's achievement in beating England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales on the one tour with a first slam bid since a star-studded team featuring Mark Ella, Michael Lynagh and David Campese swept all before them. However, at 9-5 down at half-time, Australia looked like falling at the first hurdle against an England team buoyed by the return of three World Cup ... Read Full Story

Australia coach Robbie Deans will be under particular pressure to deliver a victory when the Wallabies face an injury-hit England at Twickenham on Saturday in the first leg of their grand slam tour. A run of six defeats in the Wallabies' last seven Tests has been offset by the fact those games have been against the best two teams on the planet in world champions South Africa and New Zealand. England, even with star fly-half Jonny Wilkinson fit at a time when so many other senior players are injured, are not in that class and Martin Johnson's team features just four starters from their ... Read Full Story

Australia coach Robbie Deans sprang a surprise by naming on Thursday a new midfield combination in his team to play England in Saturday's Cook Cup clash at Twickenham. The Kiwi has decided to bring Digby Ioane in off the wing to play at outside centre with Quade Cooper inside him after he impressed during the Wallabies' 36-5 win over English Premiership side Gloucester on Tuesday. Queensland duo Ioane and Cooper have never been alongside one another in an international and for Ioane, winning his sixth cap, this will be his first Test as a centre. In all, Australia have made three changes from the ... Read Full Story

Australia coach Robbie Deans sprang a surprise by naming on Thursday a new midfield combination in his team to play England in Saturday's Cook Cup clash at Twickenham. The Kiwi has decided to bring Digby Ioane in off the wing to play at outside centre with Quade Cooper inside him after he impressed during the Wallabies' 36-5 win over English Premiership side Gloucester on Tuesday. Queensland duo Ioane and Cooper have never been alongside one another in an international. In all, Australia have made three changes from the team that lost 32-19 to New Zealand in last Saturday's Bledisloe Cup match in Tokyo with ... Read Full Story

Robbie Deans has rejected talk of divisions in the Australia squad, insisting the Wallabies are united as they look to emulate the 1984 squad that completed a Grand Slam of victories over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Deans is under pressure to get the Australia team back on track this month after an alarming set of results in 2009. They lost five of their six Tri-Nations matches to finish bottom of the table, their last game in the tournament seeing them humiliated 33-6 by New Zealand in Wellington. That was compounded by a 32-19 Bledisloe Cup defeat to the All Blacks in Tokyo on ... Read Full Story