2024 Wales rugby union tour of Australia

2024 Wales rugby union tour of Australia
Coach(es)	Warren Gatland
Tour captain(s)	Dewi Lake
Summary	P W D L
Total	01 00 00 01
Test match	01 00 00 01
Opponent	P W D L
Australia
South Africa	1 0 0 1
Tour chronology
Previous tour	South Africa 2022

The Wales national rugby union team are scheduled to tour Australia in July 2024 as part of the 2024 Summer Internationals. The first test is to be played on 6 July at the new Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales, with the second test to follow a week later at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria.^[1] A pre-tour match against South Africa on 22 June was announced in February 2024; the match will be played at Twickenham Stadium in London due to a clash with concerts by Taylor Swift and the Foo Fighters at the Millennium Stadium either side of the match.^[2] After the two tests, Wales will also play a tour match against the Queensland Reds at Lang Park, Brisbane.^[3]

It will be Wales' first tour since touring South Africa in 2022 and their first tour of Australia since 2012.^[1] Their match against Queensland will be their first since 1991.^[4]

Fixtures

Date	Venue	Home	Score	Away
22 June 2024	Twickenham Stadium, London	South Africa	41–13	Wales
6 July 2024	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Australia		Wales
13 July 2024	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne	Australia		Wales
19 July 2024	Lang Park, Brisbane	Queensland Reds		Wales

Matches

South Africa vs Wales

The two teams named their line-ups for this game on 18 June. South Africa were missing their usual captain Siya Kolisi as well as the rest of their Europe-based players, so Pieter-Steph du Toit led the team. They were also without the Bulls players who had reached the final of the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship play-offs, resulting in debut starts for fly-half Jordan Hendrikse and wing Edwill van der Merwe, while uncapped lock Ben-Jason Dixon and utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu were named on the bench. Prop Vincent Koch was named in the starting line-up to earn his 50th cap. For Wales, flanker Jac Morgan, who had co-captained the team with Dewi Lake at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, was ruled out of the tour with a hamstring injury, so Lake was named as captain, while James Botham filled in for Morgan in the back row after only being called up to the squad the day before. Lock James Ratti was also called up due to the unavailability of Cory Hill and named on the bench.^[5] New Scarlets signing Henry Thomas was named to start the match, but pulled out on 20 June with a foot injury; Keiron Assiratti was promoted from the bench to replace him among the starters, while Scarlets teammate Harri O'Connor came onto the bench.^[6]

22 June 2024 14:00 BST (UTC+1)

South Africa	41–13	Wales
Try: Kriel 4' c Penalty try 15' Mapimpi 42' c Mbonambi 69' c Van der Merwe 75' c Con: Hendrikse (2/2) 5', 43' Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2/2) 70', 76' Pen: Hendrikse (1/1) 49' Feinberg-Mngomezulu (1/1) 66'		Try: Lake 30' c Con: Costelow (1/1) 31' Pen: Costelow (2/3) 8', 34'

Twickenham Stadium, London[7] Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)[8]

FB 15 Aphelele Fassi  29' RW 14 Edwill van der Merwe OC 13 Jesse Kriel IC 12 André Esterhuizen  57' LW 11 Makazole Mapimpi FH 10 Jordan Hendrikse  59' SH 9 Faf de Klerk  53' N8 8 Evan Roos  53' BF 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (c) OF 6 Kwagga Smith RL 5 Franco Mostert LL 4 Eben Etzebeth  61' TP 3 Vincent Koch  45' HK 2 Malcolm Marx  45' LP 1 Ox Nché  67' Substitutions: HK 16 Bongi Mbonambi  45' PR 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu  67' PR 18 Frans Malherbe  45' LK 19 Salmaan Moerat  61' FL 20 Ben-Jason Dixon  53' SH 21 Grant Williams  53' FH 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu  59' CE 23 Damian de Allende  57' Coach: Rassie Erasmus

FB 15 Cameron Winnett RW 14 Liam Williams OC 13 Owen Watkin IC 12 Mason Grady  70' LW 11 Rio Dyer  12' FH 10 Sam Costelow  70' SH 9 Ellis Bevan  58' N8 8 Aaron Wainwright  15' OF 7 James Botham BF 6 Taine Plumtree  73' RL 5 Ben Carter LL 4 Matthew Screech  61' TP 3 Keiron Assiratti  39' HK 2 Dewi Lake (c)  67' LP 1 Gareth Thomas  61' Substitutions: HK 16 Evan Lloyd  67' PR 17 Kemsley Mathias  61' PR 18 Harri O'Connor  39' LK 19 James Ratti  61' N8 20 Mackenzie Martin  73' SH 21 Gareth Davies  58' CE 22 Eddie James  70' FB 23 Jacob Beetham  70' Coach: Warren Gatland

Australia vs Wales (1st test)

6 July 2024 19:45 AEST (UTC+10)

Australia	v	Wales

Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney[9] Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)[8]

Australia vs Wales (2nd test)

13 July 2024 19:45 AEST (UTC+10)

Australia	v	Wales

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne[9] Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)[8]

Queensland Reds vs Wales

19 July 2024 19:55 AEST (UTC+10)

Queensland Reds	v	Wales

Lang Park, Brisbane

Squads

Wales

Wales coach Warren Gatland named a squad of 36 players for the tour on 3 June 2024, including four uncapped players in Cardiff Rugby scrum-half Ellis Bevan and full-back Jacob Beetham, Ospreys wing Keelan Giles and Gloucester wing/full-back Josh Hathaway. Also included were Japan-based lock Cory Hill and full-back Liam Williams. Cardiff wing Theo Cabango missed out on selection after suffering a hamstring injury in their Judgement Day game against the Ospreys on 1 June. Scrum-half Tomos Williams suffered an ankle injury in March 2024 and missed out on selection for a Wales test for the first time since March 2022.^[10] Uncapped Scarlets centre Eddie James was a notable omission from the original squad, but he was added to the squad on 6 June.^[11] Cardiff flanker James Botham was added to the squad on 17 June.^[12] Uncapped Ospreys lock James Ratti was added to the squad on 18 June due to the unavailability of Hill for the South Africa test.^[5] Bath wing Regan Grace was called up to replace the injured Giles on 20 June.^[13]

Caps and ages are as of 22 June 2024, the day of the first match of the tour.^[14]

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Elliot Dee	Hooker	(1994-03-07)7 March 1994 (aged 30)	51	Dragons
Dewi Lake	Hooker	(1999-05-16)16 May 1999 (aged 25)	12	Ospreys
Evan Lloyd	Hooker	(2001-12-28)28 December 2001 (aged 22)	2	Cardiff
Sam Parry	Hooker	(1991-12-17)17 December 1991 (aged 32)	7	Ospreys
Keiron Assiratti	Prop	(1997-06-30)30 June 1997 (aged 26)	6	Cardiff
Corey Domachowski	Prop	(1996-09-11)11 September 1996 (aged 27)	10	Cardiff
Archie Griffin	Prop	(2001-07-24)24 July 2001 (aged 22)	1	Bath
Dillon Lewis	Prop	(1996-01-04)4 January 1996 (aged 28)	57	Harlequins
Kemsley Mathias	Prop	(1999-07-29)29 July 1999 (aged 24)	2	Scarlets
Harri O'Connor	Prop	(2000-10-25)25 October 2000 (aged 23)	1	Scarlets
Gareth Thomas	Prop	(1993-11-01)1 November 1993 (aged 30)	30	Ospreys
Henry Thomas	Prop	(1991-10-30)30 October 1991 (aged 32)	4	Castres
Ben Carter	Lock	(2001-01-23)23 January 2001 (aged 23)	11	Dragons
Cory Hill	Lock	(1992-02-10)10 February 1992 (aged 32)	32	Secom Rugguts
Dafydd Jenkins	Lock	(2002-12-05)5 December 2002 (aged 21)	17	Exeter Chiefs
James Ratti	Lock	(1997-10-14)14 October 1997 (aged 26)	0	Ospreys
Matthew Screech	Lock	(1992-10-24)24 October 1992 (aged 31)	1	Dragons
Christ Tshiunza	Lock	(2002-01-09)9 January 2002 (aged 22)	10	Exeter Chiefs
James Botham	Back row	(1998-02-22)22 February 1998 (aged 26)	10	Cardiff
Mackenzie Martin	Back row	(2003-10-26)26 October 2003 (aged 20)	3	Cardiff
Jac Morgan	Back row	(2000-01-21)21 January 2000 (aged 24)	15	Ospreys
Taine Plumtree	Back row	(2000-03-09)9 March 2000 (aged 24)	2	Scarlets
Tommy Reffell	Back row	(1999-04-27)27 April 1999 (aged 25)	18	Leicester Tigers
Aaron Wainwright	Back row	(1997-11-25)25 November 1997 (aged 26)	48	Dragons
Ellis Bevan	Scrum-half	(2000-03-10)10 March 2000 (aged 24)	0	Cardiff
Gareth Davies	Scrum-half	(1990-08-18)18 August 1990 (aged 33)	76	Scarlets
Kieran Hardy	Scrum-half	(1995-11-30)30 November 1995 (aged 28)	21	Scarlets
Sam Costelow	Fly-half	(2001-01-10)10 January 2001 (aged 23)	12	Scarlets
Mason Grady	Centre	(2002-03-10)10 March 2002 (aged 22)	11	Cardiff
Eddie James	Centre	(2002-08-10)10 August 2002 (aged 21)	0	Scarlets
Ben Thomas	Centre	(1998-11-25)25 November 1998 (aged 25)	2	Cardiff
Nick Tompkins	Centre	(1995-02-16)16 February 1995 (aged 29)	36	Saracens
Owen Watkin	Centre	(1996-10-12)12 October 1996 (aged 27)	38	Ospreys
Rio Dyer	Wing	(1999-12-21)21 December 1999 (aged 24)	19	Dragons
Keelan Giles	Wing	(1997-01-29)29 January 1997 (aged 27)	0	Ospreys
Regan Grace	Wing	(1996-12-12)12 December 1996 (aged 27)	0	Bath
Josh Hathaway	Wing	(2003-10-19)19 October 2003 (aged 20)	0	Gloucester
Liam Williams	Wing	(1991-04-09)9 April 1991 (aged 33)	89	Kubota Spears
Jacob Beetham	Fullback	(2001-04-18)18 April 2001 (aged 23)	0	Cardiff
Cameron Winnett	Fullback	(2003-01-07)7 January 2003 (aged 21)	5	Cardiff

See also

• 2024 mid-year rugby union tests
• 2024 England rugby union tour of New Zealand
• 2024 France rugby union tour of Argentina and Uruguay
• 2024 Ireland rugby union tour of South Africa

References