The Wallabies will crown their bumper 2009 international season with a rare "grand slam" tour of UK and Ireland after agreeing to play England at Twickenham.

ARU boss John O'Neill on Monday also confirmed a deal to play the All Blacks in a fourth Bledisloe Cup Test in Tokyo on October 31 was "virtually done and dusted" and that he expected an invitation from the Japanese Rugby Union to arrive in a matter of days.

But the securing of a "grand slam" program - 25 years after the last, when the Alan Jones-coached Wallabies famously won all four Tests against the home nations and Mark Ella scored a try in each victory - is what Australian rugby fans have longed for.

The mooted Test against England, to be rubber-stamped this week, will be played on November 7 and precede Tests with Scotland, Ireland and Wales on the following three Saturdays.

All up, the Wallabies will play 15 internationals this year, starting with a showdown with the Barbarians at the Sydney Football Stadium on June 6.

The Wallabies then host Italy and France before taking on New Zealand and South Africa in the annual Tri Nations tournament.

"It's a great calendar. It's going to fantastic. As a rugby player, you couldn't ask for anything more," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said on Monday.

"It's absolutely chocker in terms of opponents. There's few international opponents that we won't get to play, essentially Argentina and the islands.

"We're playing Japan - not the Japanese side obviously - but to play there will be good ... it'll be great out there on the ground.

"We don't really care where (we play the All Blacks). It's a prospect we'll really look forward to."

Deans said that while he accepts the hype that a "grand slam" tour will inevitably generate, talk of another four-Test sweep was not his go.

"Obviously there will be references made to `84 and things that have been before and the prospect of that," he said.

"But in terms of the way we approach it - as rugby players have to approach it - you can only deal with challenges as they present themselves.

"One of the challenges is to manage the itinerary that we do have to ensure that we present ourselves in our best shape in each instance.

"It certainly won't be easy."

O'Neill said the ARU and NZRU were both "very content with the financial arrangements" for a Bledisloe Test at Tokyo's 1964 Olympic stadium, which holds 57,000 fans.

He expects the project to net the two unions around $3 million each.

"It will be a great occasion and I think the Japan Rugby union see this as another message that they're a serious player in rugby," he said.

O'Neill said "in these tough economic times" it was a necessary evil to add the Tokyo and Twickenham Tests to the Wallabies' jam-packed program.

"It's a bit of a dilemma that both ourselves and New Zealand are finding ourselves having to play extra games and being rewarded for them to make ends meet," he said.

"We don't get paid to play Wales, Ireland and Scotland. So adding in the All Blacks in Japan, adding in England, we do get rewarded, just as the Baa Baas and Wales rewarded us last year.

"Is that enduring? I don't think it is. I don't think playing 15 Test matches a year is right. I think it's too many.

"But when you look at the circumstances that we find ourselves in, and the stress and strains that the business is under this year because of the recession, you have no choice.

"I wouldn't like to think that we continue to play that many Tests going forward."

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