In 2000 Australia retained the Bledisloe Cup, and won the Tri Nations for the first time. They repeated this in 2001 and also achieved their first ever series win over the British and Irish Lions. MacQueen, and captain John Eales both retired soon after this. They were replaced by coach Eddie Jones and captain George Gregan. This period also saw big-money signings of top-level Rugby league players Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor, and Lote Tuqiri—all of whom went on to represent Australia. This was a contrast to much of the previous century where many Rugby union players were lured to league with large salaries.
After not retaining the Tri-Nations in 2002, and losing the Bledisloe Cup in 2003 Australia made a strong start to their 2003 World Cup campaign with a 24–8 win over Argentina, and two large victories over Namibia and Romania. They then narrowly defeated Ireland 17–16 and defeated Scotland 33–16 in their quarter-final. They claimed one of their greatest victories over New Zealand when they upset them in the semi-final winning 22–10, prompting George Gregan to taunt the New Zealanders with the words "Four more years boys, four more years". They played England in a thrilling final and were finally defeated after England's Jonny Wilkinson kicked a drop goal in extra time.
In 2005 to celebrate the ten year anniversary of the professionalism of rugby union the Wallaby Team of the Decade was announced. John Eales being named captain by a selection panel of 30. Following the 2005 European tour, media outlets such as the Daily Telegraph called for the sacking of both Eddie Jones and George Gregan. Former coach Alan Jones also called for their sacking. The record of eight losses from their last nine Tests resulted in Jones being fired by the Australian Rugby Union.
John Connolly was named as the head-coach of Australia in early 2006. Australia won both of two Tests against England in 2006, as well as a subsequent win over Ireland. Australia lost by 20 points in their opening Tri-Nations fixture against the All Blacks. They then defeated South Africa in Brisbane by 49–0. They won one of their remaining four matches of the tournament. Following defeat to England in the Quarter-Finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Connolly announced he was resigning as head-coach.
Robbie Deans was appointed head coach in early 2008 as the Wallabies began their preparations for the 2008 Tri-Nations series. After the retirement of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Deans had the task of choosing a squad minus some of its most experienced players. The Wallabies had mixed results in the 2008 Tri Nations Series, defeating New Zealand in Sydney and defeating South Africa twice, in both Perth and Durban. However, the Wallabies suffered the worst defeat in their history, going down 53-8 to South Africa in Johannesburg.
2009 was not a good year for the Wallabies. It was a good start for them as they slaughtered the Barbarians 55 - 7and then beat Italy in both tests and finishing off the Mid year test series with a 22 - 6 win over France. It went downhill from there as they finished 3rd in the Tri Nations with 3 losses to the All Blacks (22 - 16, 19 - 18 and 33 - 6) and 2 losses to the World Champion Springboks (29 - 17 and 32 - 25). Their only win in the Tri Nations was a 21 - 6 win over the Springboks. In the Autumn Internationals of 2009, they lost to All Blacks 32 - 19, they beat England 18 - 9 on Jonny Wilkinson's return in the English jersey. The Wallabies then drew with Ireland 20-all after Brian O'Driscoll's last minute try to give Ronan O'Gara a relatively easy conversion to draw level. They then lost to Scotland for the first time in 27 years. The final score was 9 - 8 despite the 3 - 3 score at half time. The Wallabies have only won 7 out of their 14 games this year but they are still ranked 3rd in the world.
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