The Wallabies will host the All Blacks at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in July 2027, and Melbourne will stage a further Bledisloe Cup Test in 2029, under a multi-year deal between Rugby Australia and the Victorian Government announced on Monday 26 October.
The MCG match is part of the 2027 Rugby Championship and will be the 185th Test between the two sides, according to Rugby Australia. RNZ dates it Saturday 31 July 2027.
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said the MCG ranked among the great stadiums of the world, and pointed to how rarely the two teams have met there.
“The Wallabies and All Blacks have played only four previous Test matches at the MCG and this Bledisloe Cup encounter will mark 30 years since both teams took to the hallowed turf for the first time.”
Those four Tests have been shared evenly, with two wins to each side, Rugby Australia said.
Waugh thanked the Victorian Government, Visit Victoria and New Zealand Rugby for the deal.
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Three Tests in 2027
The MCG will sit in the middle of a longer series. The 2027 Bledisloe series goes back to three Tests, according to Rugby Australia.
It opens with the first Anzac Day Bledisloe Test, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, which RNZ dates Sunday 25 April 2027. The MCG Test follows in July, and the third Test will be played in New Zealand at a venue still to be confirmed, Rugby Australia said.
The two sides will then meet a fourth time that year. Their second Pool A match of the 2027 Rugby World Cup will be played at Accor Stadium in Sydney, according to Rugby Australia. RNZ dates that match Saturday 9 October 2027, with the tournament final on Saturday 13 November 2027.
Waugh tied the Melbourne fixture to the size of 2027 for the game in Australia.
“It is fitting that a year as significant for Australian Rugby as 2027 includes a blockbuster home Test match at the MCG.”
The MCG deal follows another Victorian major-event announcement covered here in October: Supercars confirmed a return to Phillip Island from 2027, reported on 18 October.
What the Crowds Say
Crowd figures help explain the choice of ground. When the two sides last met at the MCG, in 2023, 83,944 people attended, then the largest rugby crowd in more than 20 years, according to Rugby Australia.
That mark has since been passed at the same venue. In 2025, 90,307 watched the Wallabies’ second Test against the British and Irish Lions at the MCG, Rugby Australia said.
On the field, the Wallabies have more to make up. They have not held the Bledisloe Cup since 2002, and they conceded 93 points across the two Tests against New Zealand in 2026, ABC News reported.
A three-Test series gives them one more chance in 2027 than they had in 2026. Two of those three Tests will be at home, in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Three Tests, One Question
The longer term is less settled. Rugby Australia officials would not be drawn on whether a three-Test series will become permanent, and they were unsure whether the 2028 series will match 2027, ABC News reported.
The 2029 Test is confirmed for Melbourne under the same deal, and Brisbane also holds the Anzac Day Test that year, ABC News reported.
As at 26 October, the fixed points are these: Brisbane on Sunday 25 April 2027, the MCG on Saturday 31 July 2027, a third Test in New Zealand, a World Cup pool match in Sydney on Saturday 9 October 2027, and a further Melbourne Test in 2029.
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Sources: Rugby Australia, “Wallabies confirm MCG for 2027 Bledisloe blockbuster with All Blacks”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.rugby.com.au/news/wallabies-confirm-mcg-for-2027-bledisloe-blockbuster-with-all-blacks-20261025); ABC News, “Wallabies set for two Bledisloe Cup games at MCG by 2029 under new deal”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/three-game-bledisloe-cup-series-looms-as-new-deal-struck/107309132); RNZ, “Bledisloe Cup: All Blacks to play Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2027”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/2167933/bledisloe-cup-all-blacks-to-play-australia-at-melbourne-cricket-ground-in-2027)
Photo: TELLURIDE 749, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground from the Eureka Skydeck in March 2012.
