Rugby correspondent Nick Wasiliev takes a closer look at what this weekend’s showdown, featuring Japan and Ireland, means to Newcastle and the Hunter.
When the forthcoming clash between Japan and Ireland was announced in April to be taking place at McDonald Jones Stadium, its location may have turned a few heads in surprise to those who are not across the complex world of global rugby.
Marking the first neutral Test match on Australian soil since the 2021 COVID-affected Rugby Championship, the showdown is looming as one of the most intriguing in this year’s July international window.
Fresh off their thrilling 33-31 win over the Wallabies, Ireland will likely be favourites.
But, it is likely to be a far closer affair than predicted after Japan, coached by Eddie Jones, stunned a dangerous Italy 27-10 in Tokyo over the weekend, their first win over the Azzurri since 2018.
As rugby’s international calendar has undergone a significant revamp, the increasing frequency of games being taken out to Newcastle could set the stage for a lot more in the future.
In the past, the Wallabies, like all Southern Hemisphere sides, kicked off their season with a three-Test home series against a side from the Northern Hemisphere, before diving into the Rugby Championship and an end-of-year European tour.
In 2023, however, World Rugby confirmed the launch of the Nations Championship, a new biennial tournament which will take place in the years when there is no British & Irish Lions tour or Rugby World Cup.
The top tier of a “tiered” international window, the format will see matches played across six rounds with southern and northern hemisphere “series”, with promotion and relegation between the tiers starting with its third iteration in 2030.
Teams from the Northern Hemisphere will now travel across the Southern Hemisphere for clashes, and with commitments more considerable here than in Europe and North America, minimising travel will form a major challenge for the encounters below the Equator.
This has also combined with the increasing influx of international rugby into Newcastle – both for men’s and women’s games – ever since the Wallabies played their first fixture in 2012.
Despite that now infamous result that saw Scotland prevail 9-6 in a torrential downpour, the 20,088 fans who turned out pointed to a community that showed an interest in the worldwide game.
This sentiment was echoed in 2013 when a similar number turned out to watch the British & Irish Lions, who visited the city to play NSW/QLD Combined Country team.
The convenience of Newcastle’s location proved especially valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a makeshift 2020 Tri Nations tournament between the Wallabies, Argentina, and New Zealand saw two fixtures played at the venue.
Despite significant crowd restrictions, both achieved an attendance of over 10,000 – higher than several of the outings played in Western Sydney.
While Newcastle has maintained an outside perception of being a “rugby league” town, its 15-player counterpart has punched above its weight when it comes to the history of the sport.
From a large contingent of the current Wallaroos squad having come through the Hunter Wildfires, to historical stories such as British & Irish Lions captain Robert Seddon, who died on the Hunter River on their first ever tour in 1888, and whose grave is still tended to by the Maitland Blacks Rugby Club to this day.
It’s often been the case that the city’s sporting sides, no matter the code, serve as a sponge for northern New South Wales, with country players finding a happy medium here: looking for access to higher levels of competition, but not wanting the hustle of Sydney.
The sport has also grown with the increasing global connectivity of the city, a growing footprint of Pasifika communities also playing union at a local level across the region.
It is what made last year’s Test match between the Wallabies and Fiji so significant.
The 21-18 result in front of a crowd of 28,132 fans not only set a new record for the code in the city, but was one of the highest-attended games ever at the venue, of any sport.
Rugby union is already set to return to Newcastle next year, with four Rugby World Cup pool games set to be played in October 2027, which will draw tens of thousands of spectators to Newcastle.
The head coach of Uruguay, Rodolfo Ambrosio, has already spoken highly of the city, claiming his staff was treated like they were at home upon his return to Montevideo.
Beyond the tournament in 2027, a new calendar that comes with a need to minimise travel will open doors for more neutral games of this nature – and only a select group of cities have the right conditions to receive such a fixture.
Combined with the established infrastructure, clear hunger for games and proximity to Sydney, Newcastle seems primed for more matches in the future.
With the city’s growing profile and talk of new venues and expanding infrastructure in the Broadmeadow precinct, such news will make the appeal of Newcastle all the more likely for future world-class rugby fixtures.
And, for the record, Japan tackles Ireland on Saturday 11 July from 8pm.
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