History of The Great Britain National Rugby League Team - 1970s

1970s

The last time that Britain won the Ashes was in 1970 with emerging stars like Roger Millward and Mal Reilly. Under coach Johnny Whiteley, they won the series 2-1 in Australia after winning the final two test matches. Great Britain won 22, drew one and lost one - making them the most successful British tourists to date.

The fifth Rugby League World Cup was held in England in November 1970. Britain were hot favourites, and won all three of their group stage games. All the other nations lost two games each, and Australia qualified for the final largely on the back of an impressive tally of points against New Zealand. The final was held at Headingley, Leeds. Although Great Britain dominated the possession, the Kangaroos were able to exploit their chances, and ran out unexpected 12-7 winners in a scrappy, bad-tempered game that became known as “The Battle of Leeds”.

In 1971 New Zealand wins a series in Britain for the first time, winning 17-14 in Castleford and 18-13 in Salford.

Clive Sullivan had risen to the Great Britain captaincy, the first black captain of a home international side, and was in charge for the 1972 World Cup held in France. Jim Challinor was coach. Sullivan and Challinor led the under-rated Lions to victory over Australia (27-21), France (13-4) and New Zealand (53-19), claiming a try in each game. Clive scored a long distance try in the final in Stade Gerland, Lyon as they drew with Australia 10-10 after extra time. Great Britain won their third World Cup by virtue of having a better qualifying record. Sullivan was the last British captain to lift the World Cup.

Saturday 24 November 1973. Great Britain had won the first Test three weeks earlier at Wembley, and needed to win at Headingley to retain the Ashes. Australia won 14-6, their first Test victory at Headingley. The Kangaroos went on to win the third Test 15-5 at Wilderspool on December the first 1973, and so took the Ashes back to Australia, where they have remained ever since.

Great Britain visited New Zealand in 1974. British players had been playing under the "six tackles" rule for almost two years, but switched back to the old "four tackles" rule for international competition as the rule had not been changed in New Zealand. The Kiwis won the first Test 13-8. The second Test was staged at the Addington Showgrounds, Christchurch on Saturday 4 August 1974 and was won by Great Britain 17-8. Britain went on to win the third Test 20-0 to clinch the series.

Great Britain did not compete in the 1975 World Cup as the UK was represented by teams from England and Wales for the first time in a World Cup.

On 6 July 1975, at Boroko, Papua New Guinea played their first ever international. They were beaten 40-12 by Great Britain.

There was a reappearance for the Great Britain team at the 1977 World Cup in Australasia under coach David Watkins. Australia topped the table and Great Britain were the underdogs going to the final, held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. They managed to dominate the possession, and it took a last minute try from Australia’s John Kolc to win the Cup 13-12 in front of 24,457 spectators.

In 1978 Great Britain, labelled a Dads' Army team, beat Australia in the second test 18-14, at Odsal, before a crowd of 26,447. It was to be 10 years, and 15 consecutive test defeats before Britain beat the Kangaroos again. Peter Fox was the coach.

The tour of Australasia in 1979 was a disastrous one in many ways. A number of players withdrew because of injury, and coach Eric Ashton was unable to fly out with his squad because his daughter had been involved in a car crash. Injuries during the tour caused three influential players to return home early, whilst attendance figures at tour matches were disappointing, and led to a financial loss of over £300,000 on the trip.

The first Test at Lang Park, Brisbane was staged on Saturday 16 June 1979, and attracted a crowd of 23,051, the lowest for an Anglo-Australian Test in Australia for over sixty years. After a string of encouraging results in the opening matches; Britain were confident of pulling off an upset. However the Lions, 16-0 down at half-time, crashed to a 35-0 defeat, the heaviest Britain had suffered in a Test played in Australia.