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When rugby union embraced professionalism at the end of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, a sea change took place in the nature and number of contacts and matches for players, clubs and international teams.

Entrepreneurs started to invest in clubs in the UK and France and players migrated to Europe to play their club rugby as professionals. International sides started to tour the UK each autumn and spectators had matches to watch both live and on television.

In the autumn of 1997 Australia, New Zealand and South Africa played a combined total of 11 tests in the UK and France, and Argentina also played Italy and France. Clive Woodward's international coaching career started with a 15-all draw against Australia in November followed by defeats to the All Blacks at Old Trafford and the Springboks at Twickenham, before a thrilling 26-all draw in a second test against the All Blacks back at Twickenham. New players were blooded, notably future British and Irish Lions Matt Perry and Will Greenwood.

England v New Zealand, 1997

Will Greenwood, 6 December 1997, Twickenham (Photo Credit: Craig Prentis/Allsport)

The 1998 Five Nations tournament opened with defeat to France in Paris but an overwhelming 60-26 victory over Wales at Twickenham steadied the ship. The Murrayfield hurdle was safely negotiated, and Ireland were convincingly beaten at Twickenham leaving England as runners-up to a rampant France on their way to a second successive Grand Slam. Sixteen tries had been scored in the four matches and, against Ireland, a young Jonny Wilkinson had won his first cap as a replacement on the wing in the final five minutes.

At the conclusion of the season, an England party was chosen to tour the southern hemisphere. There were seven matches scheduled including tests against Australia, South Africa and two against the All Blacks. If a full-strength tour party could have been chosen, it would still have been a formidable assignment. The unavailability of numerous first-choice players, such as captain Lawrence Dallaglio, Jeremy Guscott, Jason Leonard and Martin Johnson, meant that Woodward picked no less than 17 uncapped players in an inexperienced tour party of 37 players. The captain was scrum half Matt Dawson supported by fellow British and Irish Lions Tim Stimpson, Nick Beal, Austin Healey, Graham Rowntree and Ben Clarke.

The opening test match was to be played in Australia and the Australian Rugby Union was critical when the English tour party was announced. Chairman Dick McGruther suspected that the English clubs were applying pressure on their players not to undertake such an arduous tour:

"It's the greatest English sell-out since Anzac Day. I think the Rugby Football Union has treated the southern hemisphere with a degree of contempt. It would be hard to prove, but it seems that with this touring party being decimated, that the employers are applying some pressure to these players."

Problems dogged the touring party from the outset. For the test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, England picked four new caps and had to add a fifth, the uncapped Gloucester scrum half Scott Benton, when Dawson was ruled out by a training injury. Jonny Wilkinson was making his first start at fly half and two more new caps entered the field as substitutes during the match. The Wallabies included the entire back line and thirteen of the team that would go on to win the World Cup in Cardiff eighteen months later. Unsurprisingly England was totally unable to match the Wallabies, who led 33-0 at half-time and went on to win by their biggest ever winning margin 76-0. The Australian backs scored ten of the 11 tries, including three each for winger Ben Tune and fly half Steve Larkham. It remains the largest English defeat in their 150-year history and four of the new caps never played in a test match for England again.

England v Australia, 1998

Jonny Wilkinson and Steve Ravenscroft, 6 June 1998, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (Photo Credit: David Rogers /Allsport)

The chastened tour party moved on to New Zealand where they were beaten 18-10 by New Zealand 'A' and 50-32 by New Zealand Rugby Academy before facing the might of the All Blacks in the 1st test on June 30th at Carisbrook, Dunedin. England made five changes but any hope of providing an upset was wrecked when second row Danny Grewcock was sent off in the 30th minute for kicking All Black hooker Anton Oliver in the head. The All Blacks immediately turned the screw and scored three tries before half-time to lead 26-8 at the break. Although England did manage to score three tries, the All Black backline and back row scored nine tries between them to win commandingly by 64 points to 22.

Three days later it was the turn of the New Zealand Maori team. An overwhelming Maori victory by 62-14 left a battered England side to face the All Blacks for a second time in a week at Eden Park, Auckland. This time England made six changes to their side with Josh Lewsey moving from centre to fly half to replace the injured Wilkinson. The All Blacks began with two converted tries within sixteen minutes but England put up sterner resistance and were only behind at the break by seven points thank to a converted try by Dawson. A further four tries in the final quarter left New Zealand comfortable winners by 40-10 but the England team had fought hard against a side with some 'greats' among them, not least Christian Cullen, Andrew Mehrtens and Jonah Lomu.

A week later at Newlands, Cape Town, England faced their final daunting tour match against a South African team, winners of the 1995 World Cup and already ten matches into a 17-match unbeaten run. A rout was expected by the general rugby public but the wet conditions and a dogged defensive display kept the score down to 18-0. Although England with only two changes never looked like scoring a try, they were able to restrict the Springboks to just two tries from their prolific try-scoring winger Stefan Terblanche and their great scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen.

England v South Africa, 1998

Dave Sims and Ben Clarke of England, 4 July 1998, Newlands, Cape Town (Photo Credit: David Rogers/Allsport)

So ended an infamous tour. Despite being labelled the 'Tour from Hell', it may have been an invaluable learning experience for some players who were key to England's success over the next five to ten years. Jonny Wilkinson, Josh Lewsey, Matt Dawson in the backs and Phil Vickery and Lewis Moody in the forwards would appear in the World Cup Final in 2003, but for ten players it was their only appearance in an England international jersey and two further members of the touring party would never appear in an official test match for England.

• Men in Black (5th edition) - Chester, McMillan and Palenski (Hodder Moa Beckett Publishers 2000)
• Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1999 - Mick Cleary & John Griffiths editors (Headline Publishing 1999)
• Rugby at Newlands 1891-2015 - David McLennan & Chris Schoeman (Burnet Media 2015)
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About the Author

A professional musician and arts administrator, Richard Steele has been on the committee of the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham since 2005 and is the co-author of the RFU's 150th anniversary book England Rugby 150 Years.

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From the archives: Jonny Wilkinson’s baptism of fire on the tour of hell in 1998

A look back at a memorable moment in sporting history.

N ot for want of trying, I have never found any footage of England’s 76-0 defeat by Australia in 1998. Is the RFU so powerful that it has successfully wiped all moving evidence of the country’s worst 80 minutes of rugby?

Enough of the conspiracy theories. Eddie Jones has announced his training camp before this summer’s tour to Australia, where England won 3-0 in 2016. Among the call-ups was Henry Arundell, a 19-year-old full back of whom great things are expected after his passable impersonations of Christian Cullen for London Irish. However Arundell fares — if he plays — it will not be as bad as Jonny Wilkinson’s early forays into Test rugby on the “Tour of Hell”.

At the end of his first season as

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Jonny Wilkinson take positives from infamous 'Tour From Hell'

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Jonny Wilkinson is back in Dunedin for the first time since England's infamous 1998 Tour From Hell, which he recalls as a bitter experience but one of the most valuable of his life.

A shadow England team, featuring full Test debuts for Josh Lewsey and Pat Sanderson, had Danny Grewcock sent off, conceded nine tries and lost 64-22 to the All Blacks.

Carisbrook, the traditional home of Test rugby in Dunedin, truly lived up to its reputation as the 'House of Pain' for England that night.

Thirteen years later, Wilkinson is back in the city for England's Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina in Dunedin's futuristic new stadium, which features a permanent glass roof.

The 'Greenhouse Of Pain', if you like.

Wilkinson struggled to remember too many of the exact details of that Test defeat to the All Blacks but the lessons he learned remain clearly etched in the memory.

He said: "It was a big building block in my life. Who knows what would have happened if you take that one away?

"We got hammered by a much better team and we learned what it takes to be the best that day. It has been important to me.

"We thought we knew what we were doing but you find out just how far short you are. I still have that lesson now and not just in rugby.

"Coming back you do realise how much following there is for rugby and how much pride there is in performance.

"It does give you that little boost to know that when you come here to play, you have got to bring the best you have otherwise you will get hurt."

It is not the All Blacks who will dish out the hurt on Saturday if England are off their game, but a fired-up Argentina side with a point to prove.

The Pumas, who finished third at the 2007 World Cup, boast one of the most ferocious forward packs in world rugby but their game is about more than just set piece dominance.

Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi has played alongside Wilkinson at Toulon for the last two seasons and been influential on the England World Cup-winner.

"He is a hugely talented player and I couldn't have learned from someone over the last two years. That is a fact," Wilkinson continued.

"The way he has played and shown me has been invaluable to my career."

Both Wilkinson and Contepomi are entering their fourth World Cup, as is Pumas hooker Mario Ledesma.

The Clermont Auvergne veteran who will pack down in the front row alongside Stade Francais prop Rodrigo Roncero and Montpellier's Juan Figallo.

"You test yourself as a player, as a front row forward, against the Argentinians and the French," said England scrum coach Graham Rowntree.

"And when you've got Argentinians playing with French clubs, that doubles the challenge.

"As a youngster, one of my first caps was against Argentina and that was a difficult evening. It's a benchmark of scrummaging gurus - how do you do against a team like Argentina or France?

"Are they the best in the business? We'll see in this competition.

"They're always a handful as a nation. A very physical outfit, the whole team: forward line, back line, they won't give up.

"It's always a very hard, physical encounter against them and I don't think that will ever change.

"That philosophy on scrummaging is to be respected - but we like scrummaging as well!"

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England head to South Africa hoping for no repeat of past nightmares

Eddie Jones is desperate for a good tour to boost the morale of a stuttering side and knows his team must improve on their Six Nations form to come away victorious

I t is exactly 20 years this week since England kicked off their most embarrassing tour of the professional era. So painful was the 1998 Tour of Hell that almost half the squad’s international careers never recovered and the record margins of defeat still stand. It still seems faintly remarkable that the coach and several of his under-strength squad were kings of the world just five years later.

The three-week expedition to South Africa this month is a relative sedan chair ride compared to the sadistic itinerary which led to Clive Woodward’s team being thrashed 76-0 in Australia and serially battered in New Zealand and South Africa. The potential for reputational damage, even so, is greater than at any point since Eddie Jones took charge two and a half years ago. With the 2019 Rugby World Cup 15 months away, Jones’s depleted squad will require a significant improvement on their Six Nations form to make it out of Africa victorious.

Perhaps their biggest challenge lies within: proving to themselves they remain a team heading in a mutually beneficial direction. Resting players in the lead-up to the Japanese endurance test next year is fair enough but it is a while since any of Jones’s troops looked bright-eyed or full of mental zip in an international jersey. At least half a dozen of those on the flight south last weekend should also be on sun loungers, according to those who know them best.

How glorious it would be for squad morale if the increasing mutterings regarding training workload, departing defence coaches and a lack of joie de vivre could be silenced in the forbidding old Springboks cathedral of Ellis Park on Saturday. The first Test will be pivotal, not least from a historical perspective. It is eight years since anyone other than New Zealand defeated their hosts at altitude – where the first two games of the series will be staged – and no English side have yet won a multi-Test series in South Africa.

Even a good Ireland team went down 2-1, albeit slightly unluckily, two years ago while Australia have not won a Test anywhere on Springboks soil since 2011. England’s last visit under Stuart Lancaster in 2012 produced two defeats and a dead-rubber draw, with the opening quarter of the second Test in Johannesburg a particularly sobering recollection. After 19 minutes the Boks were ahead 22-3, with England’s players less bothered about winning than survival. The word “brutal” takes on a whole new meaning when a Boks pack sniffs Anglo-Saxon blood.

The four Englishmen still around from that matchday 23 – Chris Robshaw, Joe Marler, Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell, who helped the side battle back to 36-27 as a second-half replacement – know exactly what is coming. Forget the narrow weekend defeat against Wales in Washington DC; the Boks’ smart new coach, Rassie Erasmus, will unveil a very different side at home. The appointment of South Africa’s first black Test captain, Siya Kolisi, will generate further motivation, although the absence of the outstanding hooker Malcolm Marx and lock Eben Etzebeth, both injured, will offer relief to those England forwards humbled by the Barbarians last weekend.

And therein lies the primary fascination of the tour. Does Jones simply carry on flogging players already creaking at the end of a long season in pursuit of short-term respectability? Alternatively, does he cast his selectorial net wider in the hope of finding individuals capable of rejuvenating England’s World Cup hopes? If he comes no closer to solving the perpetual riddle of his best back-row, midfield and full‑back options it will have been a trip wasted.

Time is not on his side. On the flank, for example, it is asking too much of the newcomer Brad Shields to leap from a losing Hurricanes side in Dunedin into a Test at Ellis Park alongside blokes he has never met. Nor will a long‑haul flight necessarily help Billy Vunipola’s tight hamstring. Ben Earl and Tom Curry are both fine prospects but are either going to terrify the Boks at the breakdown? How long can Vunipola or Nathan Hughes last in a lung‑bursting contest at altitude? It could be that Nick Isiekwe, so good for the Premiership-winning Saracens, enters the frame as an alternative to Robshaw at No6, with Sam Simmonds’s energy and low‑slung power on the bench.

Behind the scrum it will be fascinating to see what Jones’s latest temporary Australian lieutenant, Scott Wisemantel, makes of Danny Cipriani, whether Elliot Daly is handed the No15 jersey and who wears 10 and 13. Without the injured Ben Te’o and Jonathan Joseph, the temptation will be to start Farrell at 12 for all three Tests and slot others around him. Jones might conceivably learn more by sticking Farrell at 10 initially, with Cipriani or Ford coming on for the last half hour. Pairing Alex Lozowski alongside Henry Slade in the centres, with Daly at full-back and Denny Solomona and Jonny May on the wings, would certainly make people sit up and take note.

If, alternatively, a long-faced England limp home none the wiser as to whether Cipriani, Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Dan Robson and Jason Woodward can add zest to their World Cup campaign, sympathy will be in even shorter supply than bath water in Cape Town. If even their Saracens contingent, so energised in the Premiership play-offs, look flat and uninspired it will be clear all is not well in Jonestown. The next three weekends will either be hellish or heavenly.

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Le Crunch? England's humiliation by France was Le Crumble

Records tumbled at Twickenham with promises kept. It was a match where we were going to bear witness to a great entertainer. And we did -- except it wasn't England's Marcus Smith running the show. Instead, this was yet another incredible performance by the magician Antoine Dupont as France handed England a record 53-10 seven-try hammering.

England will hope this was a freak day where everything went wrong. France will look to this as a giant step forward towards, hopefully, winning their maiden World Cup when they host the event in October. This was England's biggest ever Six Nations defeat, their third worst ever in any competition.

It was an occasion of pure pathetic fallacy -- the rain teeming down on Twickenham, with England given a painful lesson by a team years ahead of them. It was to be an evening serving a wonderful reminder of how far France have come since the last World Cup, but there can rarely have been a two-hour spell which offered England such a brutal and stark realisation of the vast chasm between them and the likes of France and Ireland.

As Damien Penaud danced over pretty much unopposed for France's sixth and seventh tries, the well-bundled up England fans flocked in their thousands for the exits, leaving French voices ringing out among the remaining stunned supporters. Still, at least Twickenham Station would not have that usual full-time rush.

France had a 20-point lead at half time thanks to tries from Thomas Ramos, Thibaud Flament and Charles Ollivon. They would add another four in the second 40 through Flament, Ollivon (a wonderful sniped effort as he pounced on a loose ball at the back of a ruck to dot down) and two runaway Penaud efforts.

The famous old ground has seen some remarkable days, the evenings where those in white looked like they were walking on water, matches where they could do no wrong. The days where songs ring out late into the night, the local pub bustling with red rose optimism as they pore over tries and look eagerly to the future now seem like eons ago. Here, Twickenham was lit up in French tricolore. And the brutal thing? It could have been worse for England. "When you know the place rugby has in this country, our thoughts are with the England team who will experience a difficult moment," a tearful Fabien Galthie, the France head coach, said at full time. "For us, it means we're for real."

The final try count was 7-1 and a fair reflection. And for the various shots on the big screen of Steve Borthwick, the England coach, looking grimly aware of the predicament facing him alongside his hunched over coaching staff (you feel for Borthwick), there were the others of the pinch-yourself delighted France group. Remember when we were wondering if France had peaked early and had been given a World Cup-wounding blow by Ireland in the second round of this championship? Nope, that was not France peaking, but instead a match where they learnt, regrouped, and then unleashed wave after wave of blue-shirted fury on an England team who had few answers.

From an England perspective, the pre-match talk revolved around Smith. He was picked at fly-half by Borthwick ahead of captain Owen Farrell. After Smith's star-turn on this patch of grass last weekend for Harlequins against Exeter, this was supposed to be his evening where he could run the show his way. But he was never given a fair chance. England only had front-foot ball and built any pressure for a five-minute spell at the start of the second half. Smith never stood a chance behind a pack that splintered and a team that lacked the same intensity as their dominant opponents.

The errors were alarming, but it was the passiveness which was perhaps most concerning. After that promising win in Wales last time out, England looked to be building some momentum -- but France ignored that narrative. Shaun Edwards, the English-born defence coach for France, put together a gameplan that halted any sense of burgeoning English optimism. "There is a big gap between us and the top teams in the world," Borthwick said. "We'll address it and try and close it as soon as we can."

It is hard to justify this performance if you are the RFU. One fan lamented the £135 he had spent on a ticket in the corner of the stadium -- "Is that value for money?" he shouted. Others had already gone. "At least the bus is quiet," was one message from an England supporter on the hour mark, when France had only run in four tries.

England's nadir was supposed to be the defeat to South Africa in the autumn, so where do you class this? All along Borthwick has spoken of how far England are off the best teams in the world, and this hammered it home in Bleus brilliance. Le Crunch? This was Le Crumble.

For France, this is one of their finest days. Thomas Ramos was exceptional, Gregory Alldritt world-class, Thibaud Flament immense and Charles Ollivon on another planet. And this is before you get into the defensive work Jonathan Danty went through on his comeback or how they won the set piece and judged substitutions well. In short, France were better at everything. And then there's Dupont. For neutrals or more casual England fans, he's worth the admission alone.

"I think we're finding it hard to realise when you see the scoreboard. 53-10 at Twickenham in the den of rugby," Dupont said. "It will remain historic. I'm happy with our match, our result, the performance."

There are few positives for England. While there was no white flag, but this will cut deep. There must be concerns around the spine of the team -- Alex Dombrandt was again powerless at No.8, Jack van Poortvliet struggled at scrum-half and well, the rest of it didn't really work. There was no power. However, what will sting Borthwick the most - even above the seven tries conceded, was the chorus of boos at full-time from the England fans who remained in the stands to witness this destruction. He wanted England to reconnect with their supporters this Six Nations and instead they have returned home defeats against Scotland and France, and a hard-fought win over Italy. The sights of the empty seats as a backdrop to France's celebrations will be a scar hard to heal.

"The team is always really grateful for their support," Borthwick said. "We weren't able to put on a good performance for the supporters today and we weren't able to do that and that hurts us. I'm sure it hurt the supporters as well. One thing I'll promise is that there will be no shortage of hard work to find the improvement we need."

England will learn from this. It could yet prove to be like their 1998 Tour of Hell where Australia hammered England. Five years later, England won the World Cup in Australia against the Wallabies. This should be the same bottom line. Borthwick spoke of needing to win more collisions, but they have to rebuild this team from the ground up.

Meanwhile, France gave the rest of the world -- in front of the watching All Blacks coaches -- a reminder of their unwavering focus on winning the sport's biggest prize in October. Ireland are still ahead of them in the pecking order, but France won't give up the chase. And in Dupont they have the greatest card of all -- an entertainer, but someone far more than a box of tricks: a captain, a playmaker, a game-changer all wrapped up in a bundle of brilliance. The scary thing? France have a team of these types of players and the strength in depth to replace like for like.

Looking for something even more terrifying from an English point of view? Next up is Ireland.

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Autumn Internationals 2024: Fixtures, schedule and kick-off times for England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and more

When are the rugby Autumn Internationals? Who do England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales play and where? Key dates, fixtures and full schedule as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina all travel to the Northern Hemisphere for Tests in the Autumn Nations Series

Tuesday 23 April 2024 12:41, UK

The full schedule has been confirmed for rugby's Autumn Internationals, with the giants of the Southern Hemisphere once again coming to take on the Six Nations teams in a busy month of rugby.

England will have Tests against New Zealand and Australia before hosting world champions South Africa, a repeat of their World Cup semi-final, before completing their run of fixtures against Japan.

Six Nations champions Ireland have Friday night matches against New Zealand and Argentina ahead of further games against Fiji and Australia, while the All Blacks' autumn tour also contains trips to France and Italy.

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South Africa also take on Scotland and Wales during their three-Test tour, with Scotland having further games against Fiji, Portugal and Australia during a busy November. Wales' meeting with the Springboks follows matches with Fiji and Australia.

Autumn Internationals: Fixtures and UK kick-off times

Saturday november 2.

3.10pm England vs New Zealand, Twickenham Stadium

• Compensation deal agreed for Slot to join Liverpool from Feyenoord
• PL Predictions: Liverpool to misfire again at West Ham
• Papers: Ten Hag and Potter on Ajax shortlist
• Leicester promoted to Premier League after Leeds hammered at QPR
• How Newey's Red Bull exit would impact Verstappen and Horner
• Transfer Centre LIVE! Howe: We aren't in control of Guimaraes' future
• Spurs vs Arsenal: 'The biggest north London derby for 20 years'
• Klopp: Slot's potential appointment 'really good' for Liverpool
• How 'constant threat' Havertz is rewarding Arteta's faith
• Legendary designer Newey decides to leave Red Bull
• Latest News

5.40pm Scotland vs Fiji, Murrayfield

Friday November 8

8.10pm - Ireland vs New Zealand, Aviva Stadium

Which players could feature for the Lions?

What next after Ireland's Six Nations win?

Latest rugby union headlines and video

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Saturday November 9

3.10pm England vs Australia, Twickenham

5.40pm Italy vs Argentina, TBC

8.10pm France vs Japan, Stade de France

Sunday November 10

1.40pm - Wales vs Fiji, Principality Stadium

4.10pm Scotland vs South Africa, Murrayfield

Friday November 15

8.10pm - Ireland vs Argentina, Aviva Stadium

Saturday November 16

3.10pm Scotland vs Portugal, Murrayfield

5.40pm England vs South Africa, Twickenham

8.10pm France vs New Zealand, Stade de France

🏉 Here are your 2024 #AutumnNationsSeries Fixtures 🙌 pic.twitter.com/S8GUhS2bw5 — Autumn Nations Series (@autumnnations) April 22, 2024

Sunday November 17

1.40pm - Italy vs Georgia, TBC

4.10pm - Wales vs Australia, Principality Stadium

Friday November 22

8.10pm France vs Argentina, Stade de France

Saturday November 23

3.10pm - Ireland vs Fiji, Aviva Stadium

5.40pm - Wales vs South Africa, Principality Stadium

8.10pm - Italy vs New Zealand, TBC

Sunday November 24

1.40pm Scotland vs Australia, Murrayfield

4.10pm England vs Japan, Twickenham

Saturday November 30

3.10pm - Ireland vs Australia, Aviva Stadium

Watch every game of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, including all three Test matches against the Wallabies, exclusively live on Sky Sports . Also stream with NOW .

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