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Bledisloe Cup 2027 Test set for the MCG, with Melbourne to host again in 2029

The Wallabies meet the All Blacks in Melbourne on Saturday 31 July 2027 in a match that also counts in the Rugby Championship, and the city gets another Bledisloe Test in 2029.

By RuckBee Newsroom2 min read
Players in gold Wallabies jerseys and players in black run out of a tunnel onto the floodlit Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch.
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The All Blacks are going back to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Wallabies will play host to them there in a Bledisloe Cup Test on Saturday 31 July 2027. The game comes as part of a multi-year deal struck by Rugby Australia and the Victorian Government, which also sends a further Bledisloe Test to Melbourne in 2029.

The July fixture does two jobs. As well as counting towards the Bledisloe Cup, it is a 2027 Rugby Championship match, and it will be the 185th Test between Australia and New Zealand in a rivalry that goes back 123 years.

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh said "the Wallabies are proud to be hosting the All Blacks at the iconic venue in 2027".

A three-Test series returns

In 2027 the Bledisloe Cup goes back to being a three-Test series. It starts with the first Bledisloe Test ever played on Anzac Day, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Sunday 25 April 2027. The MCG match is the second Test, and the third will be played in New Zealand at a venue that has not yet been confirmed.

That is not the end of the rivalry for the year. Australia and New Zealand are also drawn together in Pool A of the Rugby World Cup and will play their second pool match at Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday 9 October 2027, so the two sides will meet at least four times in 2027. The tournament starts on Friday 1 October 2027, and the final is at Accor Stadium on Saturday 13 November 2027.

Big crowds and an even record

The MCG has drawn huge crowds for rugby. When the two sides last played there, in 2023, 83,944 people attended, at the time the biggest rugby crowd in more than 20 years. In 2025 the Wallabies' second Test against the British & Irish Lions at the ground drew 90,307, a new all-time crowd record for the Lions.

The 2027 match comes 30 years after Australia and New Zealand first met at the MCG.

"The Wallabies and All Blacks have won two Tests apiece at the ‘G and another enthralling contest awaits next year," Waugh said.

The full calendar is on our rugby fixtures page.

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