Baa-baas back on Wallaby schedule

The Wallabies will return to a traditional year-end tour schedule in November, when they play three midweek tour matches, four Test matches and finish with a match against the Barbarians.

The Tests against Wales, Italy, Ireland and Scotland have now been complemented with midweek matches against Ireland A, Scotland A and Welsh Heineken Cup team Ospreys.

The tour will finish with a flourish at Twickenham on November 29, when the Wallabies take on the Barbarians for the first time since 2001.

That year was also the last time the Wallabies conducted an extended tour, playing England National Division XV and Oxford University along with Tests against Spain, England, France and Wales.

Wallaby coach John Connolly said the return to a traditional tour schedule will provide the broader Wallabies squad with more opportunities to play high-quality matches in the lead up to the World Cup in France next year.

"This will be an extremely important Tour. 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," said Connolly.

Connolly maintained that winning Test matches was the primary focus for the Tour.

"We will be selecting the strongest possible squad for the Tour with the aim of winning every Test," he said.

"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."

Connolly stressed that positions in the year-end tour squad were still firmly up for grabs with the squad to be announced following next month’s APC (Australian Provincial Championship) Tournament between the four Australian Super 14 provinces.

"The squad is by no means selected and we will be looking closely at the performance of a number of players during the APC," said Connolly.

"We will finalise a squad of between 36 and 38 players at the completion of the APC," he said.

Wallaby year-end tour key dates:
* Wallabies year-end tour squad announcement – TBC (likely first week of October)
* Tuesday 24 October: Tour squad assembles in Sydney for three-day camp
* Friday 27 October: Tour squad departs for London
* Thursday 30 November: Wallabies return to Australia

Wallaby year-end tour schedule:
(Kick-off times are GMT)
Wed 1 Nov: Ospreys v Australia A, Liberty Stadium, Swansea, 19.30
Sat 4 Nov: Wales v Australia, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 14.30
Sat 11 Nov: Italy v Australia, Stadio Flaminio, Rome, 15.00
Wed 15 Nov: Ireland A v Australia A,  Thomond Park, Limerick, TBC
Sunday 19 Nov: Ireland v Australia, Lansdowne Road, Dublin, 16.00
Tue 21 Nov: Scotland A v Australia A, TBC
Sat 25 Nov: Scotland v Australia,  Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, 14.30
Wed 29 Nov: Barbarians v Australia, Twickenham, London, TBC