The 1964 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand was a series of eight matches played by the

Australia national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

in August 1964. The "Wallabies " lost the series, winning one test out of three against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

but losing the other two. So the

Bledisloe Cup The Bledisloe Cup is an annual rugby union competition originally staged between the national teams of Australia's Wallabies and New Zealand's All Blacks that has been contested since the 1930s. The frequency that the competition is held has va ...

, contested for the first time since 1962, remain owned by New Zealand. The tour was one of the highlights of the successful " Thornett Era" of Australian Rugby, buoyed by the leadership skills of skipper

John Thornett John Edward Thornett, MBE (30 March 1935 – 4 January 2019) was an Australian rugby union player, who played 37 Tests for Australia between 1955 and 1967 and made an additional 77 representative match appearances. He captained Australia in 16 T ...

and the outstanding skills of greats of the game like

Ken Catchpole Kenneth William Catchpole (21 June 1939 – 21 December 2017) was an Australian rugby union footballer. A New South Wales Waratahs, state and Australia national rugby union team, national representative half-back, he played twenty-seven matche ...

, Peter Johnson and

Rob Heming Robin John Heming (11 December 1932 – 7 January 2023) was an Australian Lock/ No.8 rugby union player who played 21 tests for Australia between 1961 and 1967. Born in Namatanai in New Ireland off the then Australian Territory of New Guinea ...

Dick Marks Richard James Pickett Marks, (born 6 September 1942) is an Australian former rugby union footballer and noted administrator.Jack Pollard; ''Australian Rugby: The Game and the Players''; Ironbark; 1994 He played 17 Tests for Australia between 196 ...

and

Peter Crittle Charles Peter Crittle AO (born 21 July 1939) is an Australian former barrister, rugby union player and official. The majority of his secondary education was at Sydney Boys High School where he played in the First XV. Before then he was briefly at ...

also toured and would later become among the most influential administrators of Australian rugby.Meares and Howell; Wallaby Legends; Lothian Books, 2005

The Matches

''Scores and results list Australia's points tally first.''

References

{{Australia Rugby Union Tours Australia national rugby union team tours of New Zealand tour tour August 1964 sports events in New Zealand