Between July 1927 and March 1928 the New South Wales Waratahs, the top Australian representativerugby unionside of the time, conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and twenty-six minor tour matches.

The Queensland Rugby Union had collapsed in 1919 and would not be reborn until 1929 leaving the New South Wales Rugby Union to administer the game in Australia at the national representative level. Just prior to the start of the Australian 1927 season an invitation from the International Rugby Board arrived in Sydney requesting aNew South Walesside tour Great Britain to play Tests against the Home Nations.

In 1986 the Australian Rugby Union decreed the five full-internationals played on the tour as official Test matches.

A squad of twenty-nine players was selected comprising twenty-eight New South Welshmen and oneQueenslanderin the great fly-half Tom Lawton, Snr who had been forced to come to Sydney to continue his career due to the absence of rugby inBrisbane. The side was captained by Arthur Cooper “Johnnie” Wallace who from Sydney University had earnt aRhodes scholarshipto Oxford in 1922 and whilst there had represented for Scotland in nine Tests between 1923 and 1926.

The selection of Wallace as captain is referred to in the Howell reference as “a masterstoke”. He was well known in Britain through his Oxford and Scotland association, was an experienced and naturally gifted player, a strong tactician and a great influence on the younger players. On the nine-month tour, the Australians won 24, lost 5 and drew 2 of the matches they played and returned having established an international reputation for playing fair and attacking rugby.

The squad left Sydney by train on 22 July 1927 bound for Melbourne. They played a game on the afternoon of their arrival in Melbourne against a Victorian invitation XV which was won 19–9. They set off in theOrmondefrom Melbourne on 26 July for Adelaide where they had a one-day stop.

By 10 August theOrmondehad arrived in Colombo where they were the guests of the Colombo Rugby Union and the tourists played that day against an All Ceylon XV in front of a crowd of 5,000 spectators. They set sail fromCeylonon 11 August. TheOrmondepassed through the Suez Canal and the Straits of Messina and a disembarkation was made atNaplesto enable a visit to Pompeii. Another stop was made at Toulon before arriving atGibraltaron 28 August and Plymouth by month’s end.

The squad had two weeks preparation on land at Teignmouth in Devon before the first tour match against Devon and Cornwall on 17 September. The tourists then relocated to Wales where matches were played at Newport, Swansea and Cardiff.

AtOxfordthe Waratahs suffered their first defeat 0–3 against a varsity side, although they won the next encounter againstCambridge. Matches were also played at Liverpool, Newcastle and Coventry before they sailed to Dublin. The Waratahs won the first Test of the tour 5–3 against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on 12 November.

Two weeks later the tourists met Wales at Cardiff Arms where they triumphed 18–8. From Cardiff they travelled to Scotland where matches were played at Glasgow, Melrose, Aberdeen and the Test loss at Edinburgh. The tourists made day trips to the Lochs, Lomond, Long and Gyll and where shown over the King’s castle at Balmoral. Back in Edinburgh castles were visited by day with dinners and theatre parties attended at night.

The party travelled to London for New Year and were shown over the Houses of Parliament by Lord Donoughmore, the Secretary of theHouse of Lordsand Sir James Whitley, the Speaker of theHouse of Commons. They were presented to the Prince of Wales at St James’s Palace and tothe Kingat Sandringham House. At Sandringham they accompanied the King through the woods on a shooting expedition after lunch and were presented to Her Majesty, Queen Mary at afternoon tea.

Later the Australians were flattered by a personal invitation to take tea at the Piccadilly residence of the Duke andDuchess of Yorkwhere they met the infantPrincess Elizabeth. Three other days were spent in the company of officers of theArmy,Air Forceand Navy culminating in a tour of theRoyal Navyfacilities at Portsmouth where they were of shown over the workings of the recently launched Australian submarines HMS Otwayand HMS Oxley, the museum piece HMS Victoryand the Royal YachtVictoria and Albert III.

Two days after the Test loss at Twickenham the squad left for France, spending a night in Paris before journeying toBordeaux. There against a selected provincial side the Waratahs suffered the most convincing defeat of the tour with the locals taking an early lead and holding on to a 19–10 victory. Then followed a match inToulouseagainst a side representing south-western France in which the visitors prevailed.

Back in Paris, the tourists were entertained and shown the city’s splendour before meeting the French national side at Stade Colombes in the final Test match of the tour in front of a crowd of 40,000 with 2,000 gendarmes stationed around the enclosure to keep in check the emotions of the enthusiasts. From Paris the squad crossed the channel and departed from Liverpool in theMelitafor Canada. They travelled by train from coast to coast with stops at Montreal, Toronto, Banff and Sicamous. Arriving in Vancouver in late February 1928 the squad spent twelve days and played three exhibition matches against varsity and club sides.

In March 1928 they boarded theAorangiin Vancouver to commence the final leg home with stops inHonolulu, Suva andAucklandbefore arriving in Sydney by month’s end, a full nine months after first setting out.^[1]

The “Exhibition Matches” are not classed as important as the “Tour matches”. They are listed on the tour but the starting line-ups are not counted in the players stats.

Test matches

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