Wales will also meet up with a very familiar face when they kick-off their Invesco Perpetual Series at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, 4 November – Scott Johnson. The former Wales skills coach is now attack coach for the Wallabies, Wales‘s first opponents in another highly attractive and competitive series of games.
The Wallabies were beaten by Wales for the first time in 18 years in Cardiff at the end last season’s series and will return to the Welsh Capital not only with some insider knowledge of the Welsh camp, but also determined to put the record straight less than a year out from the 2007 Rugby World Cup when the two teams will clash in Cardiff in a crucial Pool B match.
The opening Invesco Perpetual Series game will kick-off at 2.30pm and be screened live on BBC Network. The games against the Pacific Islands, on Saturday, 11 November, and New Zealand on Saturday, 25 November, will also be shown live on BBC Network.
“Last year we tested our players to the full by offering them the chance to meet the three Tri-Nations superpowers, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in the space of a month. Our Invesco Perpetual Series in the November 2005 also featured a game against our 2007 RWC Pool opponents Fiji,” said WRU chief executive Steve Lewis.
“It was the first time we had met all three Tri Nations teams in one series and we are delighted to have the Wallabies and New Zealand returning next season. Our first fixture with the Pacific Islands side is going to be an interesting, and possibly bruising, encounter and we will also have a Friday night game against Canada to look forward to.
“All the action will be captured for us by BBC network and BBC Wales and the service they provide to the game across the Celtic nations is immense. The goal will once again be to fill the Millennium Stadium to its capacity for the four fixtures and Gareth Jenkins and his team will no doubt have some plans for dealing with the huge challenges his team will face on the field.”
As the main broadcast partner to the three Celtic nations, the BBC will be offering unrivalled coverage of the Autumn games with eight of the 10 matches being played in Scotland, Ireland and Wales being shown live on Network TV. While Wales meet Australia, Canada, the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, Scotland face Romania, the Pacific Islands and Australia and Triple Crown champions Ireland meet South Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
BBC Head of Programmes and Planning, Philip Bernie said: “We’re looking forward once again to high quality rugby games; all three Celtic nations will be very competitive against the Southern Hemisphere teams and there’s particularly fresh interest in the Pacific Islands matches. So we’re hoping to continue the trend shown in last year’s matches, where the viewing figures were up 9% across all the live games on the previous year.”
INVESCO PERPETUAL SERIES
Millennium Stadium, November 2006
SATURDAY NOV 4
Wales v Australia
(KO 2.30pm – BBC Network)
SATURDAY NOV 11
Wales v Pacific Islands
(KO 2.30pm – BBC Network, except BBC Scotland)
FRIDAY NOV 17
Wales v Canada
(KO 7.30pm – BBC Wales)
SATURDAY NOV 25
Wales v New Zealand
(KO 5.00pm – BBC Network)
