Rugby Australia has announced the return of the Gold Blooded Tour as the excitement around the 2023 Rugby World Cup builds.
The nationwide tour is presented by RM Williams and will kick off on Monday May 22 in preparation for the crucial year.
Click here for more information about the Gold Blooded Tour
The tour looks to engage the Rugby community across metro and regional Australia to promote the sport in the lead up to France, with the Wallabies’ first match against Georgia on September 9 just after 100 days away.
“It’s incredible to have the support of Land Rover and also RM Williams, it gives us the capacity to get to places that sometimes we can’t get to,” Classic Wallabies General Manager Morgan Turinui said.
“It’ll start with a crescendo with Classic Wallaroos and Wallabies games next weekend in Wagga, they will be clinics throughout Southern NSW Rugby and also the south coast of NSW and that’s just the beginning of getting to every state and territory and getting out into the community where the professional teams can’t go.
“We want to drive everyone’s awareness towards the Wallabies heading off to Rugby World Cup in France. We did it in 2019 and got to head off to some great places and have former Wallabies from really successful generations go into communities and really inspire kids to continue and try Rugby along with supporting the Wallabies and Wallaroos.”
It begins in Southern NSW as Classic Wallabies and Wallaroos visit clubs and schools in Batemans Bay, Cooma & Wagga Wagga.
New Wallaroos Captain, Piper Duck, will return home to Tumut during the first leg as part of the celebrations.
“We’re very lucky to have Piper, who is from Tumut just down the road from Wagga. She’s from the region so having someone like Piper as an example of it doesn’t matter where you start your Rugby journey, it can lead to the gold jersey,” Turinui believes.
“It’s a great reminder that out of the cities, some of the regional areas can feel forgotten and Piper Duck is a great example that anyone can thread that golden path.
“We’ve got some surprises along the way about some current Wallabies that we can drag down to some places that they don’t often get to so keep an eye on some of the great former Wallabies and Wallaroos but also some current players.”
The tour covers every major state and territory in Australia, from Hobert to Darwin, Esperance and Walgett.
The three-month will see the Classic and current Wallabies and Wallaroos head to 38 schools & holiday camps and 46 Junior and senior clubs.
Along with this, it will include activations from major sponsors RM Williams and Cadbury as they look to further their support for Community/Grassroots Rugby.
It follows in the footsteps of the 2019 #GoldBlooded tour, prior to the Wallabies taking to the world stage in Japan.
“One of the fun things was talking the World Cup trophy right around Australia and listening to kids, who have fun at the clinics, but also the parents tell their stories about where they were in ’91 or ’99 and be reminded how universally loved the Wallabies are as a team and how recognised that golden jersey is right around the country,” Turinui added.
“Definitely felt that groundswell of support for the team in 2019 and I’m sure it’ll be the same for 2023.”