Wallabies eye unbeaten spring tour of UK

The Wallabies are bound for Japan and Europe believing a rare undefeated spring tour is possible following their drought-breaking win over New Zealand.

Riding high after a drought-breaking Bledisloe Cup triumph, the Wallabies are bound for Asia and Europe hoping to complete their first unbeaten spring tour in more than 20 years.

The Wallabies fly out of Sydney on Tuesday night intent on carrying the momentum from this month's 23-18 victory over the All Blacks in Brisbane into November Tests against Japan, Wales, England and Scotland.

No Australian team since the Greg Smith-coached Wallabies in 1996 have returned from Europe undefeated after a three or four-Test spring tour.

World Cup-winning mentor Rod Macqueen, his successor Eddie Jones and the likes of John Connolly, Robbie Deans, Ewen McKenzie and Michael Cheika have all coached Australian teams that have come unstuck trying to achieve the rare sweep.

But Wallabies captain Michael Hooper firmly believes Cheika's class of 2017 can accomplish the special feat.

"Obviously to win four and that's the expectation with this group," Hooper told AAP when asked on Tuesday what the Wallabies' tour goal was.

"It's a realistic goal for us, of course. The way we've been growing, the way we've been building - we haven't lost in quite a few games - so there's a good amount of belief around the squad and trust in what we're doing.

"So it starts this weekend with a really tough occasion against Japan."

The Wallabies tackle the Cherry Blossoms - one of the revelations of the 2015 World Cup - in Yokohama on Saturday.

Then it's Wales at Millennium Stadium, Eddie Jones' England and Scotland at Murrayfield on successive Saturdays.

While the Wallabies have had the wood over Wales for almost a decade, Hooper's men will be seeking revenge for four straight losses to England and redemption for a shock loss in Sydney this winter to the Scots.

"It's a really good test for us, I think, to see where we're at against a different style of team," Hooper said.

"We got to play New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, a good test to see what it's like against their style of rugby, and then to get over to the northern hemisphere to play their style.

"It's very different to what we've been facing in the last x-amount of games now, so another new test and we've got some new faces in this team, some good opportunity there to see guys step up and grow the squad going into 2018 and '19."


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Source: AAP



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