Autumn International Fixtures 2009

Here are the main 2009 autumn international fixtures. I say "main" because some other sites list matches involving Canada, USA, Japan, and others. But in my mind (rightly or wrongly), an autumn international fixture needs to include at least one team from either the Six Nations or the Tri Nations - so you'll see I've listed matches involving Fiji and Samoa because they do meet this criterion.

This year it's Australia's turn to have a shot at the Grand Slam - which I think is going to be tough given their showing in this year's Tri Nations. But they've got some exciting talent, and a few weeks to turn things around, so let's wait and see.

Date	Fixture	Venue
7 November 2009	England vs Australia	Twickenham, London
7 November 2009	Wales vs New Zealand	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
13 November 2009	France vs South Africa	Stadium Municipal, Toulouse
13 November 2009	Wales vs Samoa	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
14 November 2009	England vs Argentina	Twickenham, London
14 November 2009	Italy vs New Zealand	San Siro Stadium, Milan
14 November 2009	Scotland vs Fiji	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15 November 2009	Ireland vs Australia	Croke Park, Dublin
21 November 2009	England vs New Zealand	Twickenham, London
21 November 2009	Scotland vs Australia	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
21 November 2009	Wales vs Argentina	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
21 November 2009	Italy vs South Africa	Stadio Friuli, Udine
21 November 2009	Ireland vs Fiji	RDS Arena, Dublin
21 November 2009	France vs Samoa	Stade de France, Paris
28 November 2009	Scotland vs Argentina	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
28 November 2009	France vs New Zealand	Stade Velodrome, Marseille
28 November 2009	Ireland vs South Africa	Croke Park, Dublin
28 November 2009	Wales vs Australia	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
28 November 2009	Italy vs Samoa	Stadio Del Duca, Ascoli Piceno
28 November 2009	England vs Fiji	Twickenham, London
5 December 2009	Barbarians vs New Zealand	Twickenham, London

Autumn International Rugby

The Autumn Internationals are an annual series of rugby union test matches that take place in the northern hemisphere autumn. It is largely a north versus south event, with teams from the Six Nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy) taking on those from the Tri Nations (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia), and Argentina. Matches are played in the northern host country.

More recently the series has also included second tier rugby nations like Canada, Romania, Portugal, Uruguay, USA, and the Pacific nations of Samoa and Fiji (playing either as national teams, or more often, as the combined Pacific Islanders team). For these teams, the series is an important source of revenue which enables them to develop the game in their respective countries.

Traditionally, one of the big three Southern Hemisphere teams is given the opportunity of playing a grand slam tour against the four home nations (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales); needless to say, it is an impressive achievement to win the grand slam, having been achieved only a handful of times in the hundred-odd years of the game's history.

Finally, the Autumn Internationals are usually capped off by a match involving the invitational Barbarians playing against either Australia, South Africa or New Zealand in the Final Challenge - the traditional final match of a tour of Britain and Ireland by one of the Tri Nations heavyweights.