Will the Wallabies win the Bledisloe Cup again?

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In 2012, Wallabies legend Mark Ella made a “stunning” prediction in the pages of The Sydney Morning Herald .

“We haven’t won the Bledisloe Cup for 10 years – and I think it’s going to be another 10 years before we get there,” Ella said.

It turns out the genius in a gold No.10 jersey was having his Nostradamus moment – and an optimistic one at that.

Not only did another decade pass without Australian players getting their hands on the Bledisloe Cup, the drought has now stretched into a 24th year after last Saturday’s 50-19 thumping by the All Blacks at Eden Park .

With the trophy contested over two matches this year, Australia cannot reclaim it, reducing Saturday’s return clash at Accor Stadium in Sydney to little more than a dress rehearsal for the sides’ World Cup pool clash at the same venue on October 9 next year.

Contacted this week about his prediction 14 years ago, Ella admitted he rarely watches rugby these days and doubted he could offer much insight.

He also skipped last week’s reunion in Sydney for Wallabies who were part of the 1984 grand slam tour of the UK and Ireland or Australia’s 1986 series triumph in New Zealand.

“The Bledisloe Cup was hard to win, whether it was in my day or the current era,” Ella says. “We’re still struggling.”

Which raises a question that once would have seemed absurd: will the Wallabies win the Bledisloe Cup again?

Sure, it’s a provocative question. But if you believe those “experts” who reckon artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within the next decade, the Wallabies might genuinely be running out of time.

George Gregan was the last Australian captain to lift the trophy, in 2002. For an entire generation of supporters – anyone under about 25 – the Bledisloe Cup isn’t something Australia wins. It’s something New Zealand owns.

Once a source of national pride and enormous interest, the trophy has become a symbol of Australian rugby’s decline, an annual reminder of the glory days at the turn of the century.

In 24 Bledisloe series from 2003 onwards, Australia have lost 19 and drawn five. Those five drawn series – in 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 – were all two-match affairs.