Cook Cup

Cook Cup

Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1997
No. of teams	2
Country	Australia  England
Most recent champion(s)	England

The Cook Cup is a rugby union trophy that is contested between Australia and England. The cup was established in 1997 when the Wallabies and England contracted to play each other bi-annually for a decade, playing matches on a home and away basis. Since the first two years the format has only been adhered to once (in 2004). Most years there is only one match and World Cup matches are not counted. The cup is named after Captain James Cook, representing a strong English-Australian connection. The cup, which was designed by Royal Doulton in London, is made from crystal.

Pre-Cook Cup

The first test between England and Australia was played on 9 January 1909 at Blackheath's Rectory Field in England The Wallabies won the match 9–3. The two nations next met in 1928, at Twickenham, and England won 18–11. Twenty years passed and England and Australia met again at Twickenham in 1948, with Australia winning the affair 11–0. It would then be another decade until the two nations played another test against one another. In 1958, they met again at Twickenham, and England won 9–6.

England and Australia played each other twice during the 1960s, with the first match in Australia in 1963. The Wallabies defeated England 18–9 at Sydney's Sports Ground, and again in 1967 by 11–23 at Twickenham. The nations played each other another four times during the 1970s; with the home team always victorious. England won 20–3 at Twickenham in 1973, Australia won both of the 1975 tour matches 16–9 at the Sydney Cricket Ground and 30–21 at Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, then England won 23–6 in 1976 at Twickenham.

The two nations would meet six times during the 1980s, the first encounter being in 1982, with England defeating Australia 15–11 at Twickenham. Two years later the Wallabies broke the trend when the magnificent Grand Slam team of 1984 won away from home at Twickenham by 19–3. They were drawn against each other in the 1987 World Cup at Sydney's Concord Oval, with Australia winning 19–6. The nations played 3 times in 1988, with Australia winning at home 22–16 at Ballymore and 28–8 at Concord Oval, and England winning 28–19 at Twickenham.

The sides met three times during the 1990s before the Cook Cup was introduced. The first match was in 1991 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and Australia won 40–15. Later that year, Australia won the final of the 1991 Rugby World Cup 12–6 at Twickenham. The last pre-Cook Cup match was a quarter-final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. England dramatically won 25–22 with the last kick of the match.

Cook Cup period history

The first Cook Cup match was played at Sydney Football Stadium on 25 June 1997. Australia won the match 25–6. The series was decided through two tests, and with the second match at Twickenham resulting in a 15–15 draw, Australia were crowned champions.

In 1998 Australia ran out record 76–0 winners at Lang Park in Brisbane, playing a severely depleted England side. The Wallabies were captained by John Eales and scored 11 tries. The subsequent meeting at Twickenham in December was a much closer affair, with Australia winning 12-11 thanks to a late Eales penalty. In June 1999 Australia retained the trophy by beating England 22–15 at Stadium Australia.

In 2000, England won the Cook Cup for the first time, beating Australia 22-19 at Twickenham with an injury-time try by Dan Luger. In each of the next two years, the Cup was also decided in a single match at Twickenham, with England winning 21-15 in 2001 and 32-31 in 2002.

The 2006 match between Australia and England at Telstra Dome.

England retained the Cup in 2003 with a 25-14 victory at Melbourne's Telstra Dome - their first-ever test victory over Australia in Australia. Later that year, the two nations met in what was one of their most famous encounters, the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final at Stadium Australia, Sydney. Jonny Wilkinson landed a drop goal in extra time that saw England win the Rugby World Cup 20–17.

The 2004 Cook Cup was contested over two matches, Australia winning 51–15 at Brisbane in June and 21–19 at Twickenham in November. England won the Cup back in 2005 with a 26–16 victory at Twickenham. In 2006 the teams played a two-match series in Australia, with the home team winning both games comfortably.

There was no Cook Cup in 2007, owing to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, although the teams did meet again in this competition. In 2008, Australia retained the Cook Cup by winning a single match at Twickenham 28-14. This match formed part of the Autumn Test matches. They repeated the feat in 2009, this time with an 18–9 victory. There were three matches in 2010: first, the teams played a two-match series in Australia in June, winning one match apiece, and then a single test in London in November, which England won. No match was scheduled for 2011, which was a World Cup year.

In 2012, Australia reclaimed the trophy with a 20–14 victory in a one-off test at Twickenham. The result was viewed as something of a surprise, since Australia had come into the match following a 33–6 loss to France.

England regained the Cup in November 2013 with a 20–13 win at Twickenham, and retained it in 2014 with a 26–17 win. There was no Cook Cup match in 2015, although the two teams did meet in the Rugby World Cup in October. In 2016, England retained the trophy by winning every encounter in a three-match series in Australia, the first-ever such series between the two countries.^[1] In December 2016 England retained the cup with 37–21 victory.

Matches

Results

Year	Date	Venue	Home	Score	Away	Match Winner	Trophy Winner
2016	3 December	Twickenham, London	England	37 – 21	Australia	England
2016	25 June	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Australia	40 – 44	England	England
	18 June	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne		7 – 23		England
	11 June	Lang Park, Brisbane		28 – 39		England
2014	29 November	Twickenham, London	England	26 – 17	Australia	England
2013	2 November	Twickenham, London	England	20 – 13	Australia	England
2012	17 November	Twickenham, London	England	14 – 20	Australia	Australia
2010	13 November	Twickenham, London	England	35 – 18	Australia	England
2010	19 June	Stadium Australia, Sydney	Australia	20 – 21	England	England
	12 June	Subiaco Oval, Perth		27 – 17		Australia
2009	7 November	Twickenham, London	England	9 – 18	Australia	Australia
2008	15 November	Twickenham, London	England	14 – 28	Australia	Australia
2006	17 June	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	Australia	43 – 18	England	Australia
	11 June	Stadium Australia, Sydney		34 – 3		Australia
2005	12 November	Twickenham, London	England	26 – 16	Australia	England
2004	27 November	Twickenham, London	England	19 – 21	Australia	Australia
2004	26 June	Lang Park, Brisbane	Australia	51 – 15	England	Australia
2003	21 June	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	Australia	14 – 25	England	England
2002	16 November	Twickenham, London	England	32 – 31	Australia	England
2001	10 November	Twickenham, London	England	21 – 15	Australia	England
2000	18 November	Twickenham, London	England	22 – 19	Australia	England
1999	26 June	Stadium Australia, Sydney	Australia	22 – 15	England	Australia
1998	28 November	Twickenham, London	England	11 – 12	Australia	Australia
1998	6 June	Lang Park, Brisbane	Australia	76 – 0	England	Australia
1997	15 November	Twickenham, London	England	15 – 15	Australia	Draw
1997	23 July	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Australia	25 – 6	England	Australia

See also

• History of rugby union matches between Australia and England

References

External links

Wikinews has related news: Cook Cup

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cook Cup.

• Cook Cup on rugby.com.au