In June 2016, England played a three-test series against as part of the 2016 mid-year rugby union tests. They played the Wallabies across the three weeks of the June International window, 11 JuneâÂÂ25 June, and contested the Cook Cup, which England had previously won eight times to Australia's twelve. The series was part of the fourth year of the global rugby calendar established by the International Rugby Board, which runs through to 2019.
England won all three matches, the first time they had won a test series in Australia. After defeating the hosts in the second match, England retained the Cook Cup and achieved second place in the World Rugby Rankings, while Australia dropped to fourth. Australia had not been "whitewashed" in a home series since losing all three tests to South Africa in 1971.
After the third test, two days after the United Kingdom had voted to leave the European Union, The Courier-Mail joked that a second continent now hated England as a result of the tour.
<small>Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 11 June, the first test match of the tour.</small>
On 22 May, Eddie Jones named a 32-man squad for England's tour of Australia. An additional 5 players (Dave Attwood, Luther Burrell, Ollie Devoto, Matt Kvesic, Tommy Taylor) were also named ahead of the test match against Wales on 29 May, the day after the Aviva Premiership final between Saracens and Exeter Chiefs. Ben Te'o, whose mother is English, was named in the squad, despite playing for Irish province Leinster, since he will be moving to Worcester Warriors for the 2016/17 season, making him eligible for selection.
On 30 May, Luther Burrell replaced Manu Tuilagi in the touring squad after Tuilagi withdrew from the squad due to injury.
Coaching team:
On 26 May 2016, Michael Cheika named a 39-man extended squad for their June test series against England.
On 30 May 2016, Reece Hodge was called up to the squad to replace the injured Mike Harris.
On 3 June 2016, Michael Cheika named a final 33-man squad for the test series, with Adam Coleman, Liam Gill, James Hanson, Leroy Houston, Eto Nabuli and Joe Powell missing out on the final cut.
On 12 June, Matt To'omua joined the squad as un-listed member of the squad after recovering from his knee surgery. Liam Gill (rugby)|Liam Gill also joined the squad after David Pocock was ruled out of the rest of the series.
On 20 June, Ben McCalman was ruled out of the last test of the series due to injury and was replaced by Leroy Houston in the squad.
On 23 June, Adam Coleman was named in an extended match-day 23 for the final test, despite not being in the initial 33-man squad.
Coaching team:
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