Australia hopeful over England date

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O'Neill is hopeful England will agree to play Australia at Twickenham on November 7 following Tests against Wales, Ireland and Scotland - reviving memories of the famous 1984 tour in which Australia won all four Tests under Alan Jones.

O'Neill believes the Wallabies can repeat history a quarter of a century later and said: "There's no reason why not. I really think the way this team is developing off the back of last year, that a clean sweep will be on the cards."

He added: "It won't be easy but with the talent that is coming through - Robbie's (coach Robbie Deans) been on deck now for a full year - so I think a grand slam repeat 25 years on would be a very, very significant achievement."

Deans was more reserved, pointing out the Wallabies have a packed calendar to work through before turning their thoughts to the grand slam.

"There will be references made to '84 and things that have gone before," he noted.

"It's going to be a fantastic challenge but you can only deal with challenges as they present themselves and that's what we'll do."

O'Neill revealed the return of the grand slam tour had long been a dream of his, with England the missing piece in the plan.

"We've had a couple of cracks in the past and all sorts of things have got in the way but the penny dropped with me last year that we had the other three and were only missing England, the home of rugby," he said.

"I had a chat to (Rugby Football Union chief executive) Francis Baron and it fell into place. It's a really good game for them to put into their itinerary."