1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland
The 1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland was a series of eighteen matches played by the Australia national rugby union team (the Wallabies) in Britain and Ireland between 17 October and 15 December 1984. The Australian team won thirteen matches, drew one and lost four but notably won all four of their international matches.
The 1984 Wallabies were the first and only Australian side to achieve a Grand Slam doing so in four Tests against the Home Nations. This feat had been achieved five times previously, by the 1978 New Zealand All Blacks and by the South African Springboks during their tours of 1912–13, 1931–32, 1951–52 and 1960–61. Australia's classy five-eighth Mark Ella managed to score a try in every Test. The tour confirmed Australia's coming of age as a world-class rugby nation, marking the end of three difficult decades of inconsistent international performances from 1950 onwards.
Alan Jones was widely experienced as a schoolboy coach but had had only one season coaching first-grade before his rise to the national position. He steered Manly to a surprise victory in the 1983 Sydney 1st Grade Premiership over the strong Randwick club. He was practically unknown in Australian rugby at point but set his sights on the national representative coaching job at a time when the incumbent Bob Dwyer was becoming increasingly vulnerable. Under Dwyer in 1983 the Wallabies lost a two Test series against the French, tipping Dwyer's career record to the negative with six losses, five wins and a draw. Jones publicly announced his intentions to stand against Dwyer in early 1984 and ran a media campaign that befitted his experience as a former Prime Ministerial speech writer. In February 1984 he was installed as the national coach and he set out from that point to select, train, guide and strategise Australian rugby to the summit of international success.
After failing to wrestle the Bledisloe Cup away from the All Blacks in mid-1984 (a 1–2 series loss), Jones set his sights on glory from the British Isles tour and the specific goal of winning all four of the Test matches and to eclipse the one win, three loss record of the 1981–82 Wallabies. To assist he called upon his friend, the affable Queenslander Alec Evans, who had coached rugby union at Brisbane Grammar School whilst Jones was a teacher and was a man of enormous rugby experience and knowledge. Evans became the first Assistant-Coach in the history of Wallaby tours. Tour Manager was former Wallaby Captain Charles "Chilla" Wilson who managed in the style of a "benevolent, big brother". Howell quotes Mark Ella "I couldn't think of a better manager. I played for Australia for six years. Thank God I had Chilla Wilson for three of them. With Jonesy up there dominating everything, Chilla was the perfect foil. He was quiet, unobtrusive and didn't make a lot of noise. In fact, you wouldn't know Chilla was the manager until the time came for somebody to get up and say the right thing"
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