4 Nov 2009

Wallabies open grand slam tour with win over Gloucester

4:34 pm on 4 November 2009

The Wallabies have opened their grand slam tour of the UK and Ireland with a comfortable 36-5 win over English Premiership battlers Gloucester.

Quade Cooper clearly outpointed 34-year-old former All Black Carlos Spencer in the first five duel, to set up the second-string Wallabies' win.

The match was played 101 years after the Gloucester club hosted Australia's first-ever travelling national rugby team - initially dubbed the "Rabbits" before finishing the tour as the Wallabies.

That trailblazing Wallabies side then went onto win the Olympic gold medal for rugby at the 1908 London Games.