| Wales will take on 2023 World Cup champions South Africa on English soil before heading down- under to face Australia in an exciting summer of Test rugby. Twickenham will be the host of an exciting day of rugby on Saturday 22nd June with a double-header. Wales, as the away side, start their summer of international fixtures against the Springboks (KO 14:00) before Fiji face the Barbarians in the second match of the afternoon (KO 17:15) This will be second time Wales and South Africa go head-to-head against each other at one of the world’s most famous venues. The Boks edged it 23-19 the last time both teams met at the 82,000-capacity stadium in the 2015 World Cup Quarter-Final. The world champions will be hoping to attract a strong South African crowd to Twickenham as there’s more than 200,000 South Africans living in the UK. From Twickenham, Warren Gatland’s side will then travel to Australia to challenge the Wallabies in July for two Test matches. The first will be played on July 6th, at the newly built Allianz Stadium, Sydney whilst match two will be played the following week on July 13th at AAMI Park, Melbourne. Speaking about Wales’ summer schedule senior men’s head coach Gatland said: “I’m incredibly excited about the fixture list for Wales this summer. “To have the opportunity for our young squad to test itself against the world champions at a neutral venue is an extremely important experience and something that we will relish. It should also be a great occasion for the fans and something a little bit different for them.” Australia will be hoping to put in a good performance after that incredible group stage match where Wales came out victorious with a 40-6 win to kick Australia out of the Rugby World Cup and Wales narrowly lost 20-19 the last time they faced Australia down under at the Sydney Football Stadium. Both teams will be eager to win the Test so they can get their hands on the James Bevan Trophy. “We’re also excited for the opportunity we have with our two Tests in Australia in July,” added Gatland. “We know the Wallabies will be hurting after the Rugby World Cup but Australia is a tough place to go and play rugby and we’re expecting a fired up side led by new head coach Joe Schmidt.” Tickets for Wales’ Senior Men’s Summer Matches General admission tickets go on sale from Friday 23 February at 10am – visit Ticketmaster, Ticketekor RFU to secure your seat. Each ticket will cover entry for both South Africa vs Wales (K.O. 2pm) and Barbarians vs Fiji (K.O. 5.15pm) on Saturday 22 June, starting from just £55* for Adults and £28* for Under-16s. For a 10% discount on groups of 10 or more, please visit www.eticketing.co.uk/rfu/events. |
