The Wallabies will spend close to a full week in the Hunter before their historic Test match against Argentina in September, which Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes expects to be a tourism bonanza for the city.
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The Rugby Championship match, exclusively revealed in Friday's Newcastle Herald, will be held on Saturday, September 5 - a week after the Wallabies clash with South Africa in Perth.
Rugby Australia director of rugby Scott Johnson confirmed on Friday the team would fly straight back to the east coast from Western Australia with the expectation of spending the week in Newcastle ahead of the match against Argentina.
"We'll spend the week here," Mr Johnson said. "It's important that we immerse ourselves into the region.
"It's really part of what we stand for, what we want this Wallabies group to stand for.
"There will be a lot of activities based [in the region] that showcase both the players and the game."
With a long build-up to the game, and the Wallabies in action in the weeks beforehand, Rugby Australia officials are expecting close to a sold-out attendance.
The last and only Wallabies match in Newcastle, a one-off encounter against Scotland in 2012, attracted 20,088 fans despite being held in torrential rain and gale-force winds.
Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said having the match on a Saturday night would allow more people to attend from regional or interstate areas and provide a significant economic injection.
"The biggest bang for your buck in terms of the economic development figures that come out, is often, overnight visitation," she said.
"If people are coming up from Sydney, coming down from the North Coast or flying into the city, that is what we hope to achieve with that weekend in September.
"It's great to have a Saturday night fixture because people can actually make a weekend of it here in the city and go out into the region.
"Even if we just measured overnight visitation in the City of Newcastle, the full picture is actually that economic benefit to the region."
Cr Nelmes said the match, made possible with the assistance of the NSW government's tourism agency, Destination NSW, was evidence of growing confidence in Newcastle's ability to host major sports events.
"It's a real vote of confidence in Newcastle from Rugby Australia and the NSW government continuing to invest heavily in international sporting fixtures in the city," she said.
"We haven't had the Wallabies here since 2012, but we have had the Wallaroos. That was very well attended [and] a great match.
"But it's wonderful after the [Wallabies] training camp we had with them last year here in the city of Newcastle to come back."
Cr Nelmes said the match would showcase the city to a another new audience, which would hopefully provide flow-on tourism benefits for the broad region.
"We know when we host those big international events here that we book out accommodation all through the regions and people then stay and go to Port Stephens and or the Hunter Valley for the weekend," she said.
"People don't often know what a gem Newcastle is in terms of its cultural attractions, beaches and amenity as a city."
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