1920 Great Britain Lions tour

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The 1920 Great Britain Lions tour was the third British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the Australian and New Zealand national sides, as well as several local teams. The tour was a success and brought in a handsome profit.[1]

Touring squad

At the 1919–20 Northern Rugby Football Union season's conclusion, the following Great Britain squad was assembled by the NRFU to represent it on the tour of Australasia. Mr S Foster and Mr J Wilson were the team managers. Although it was a Great Britain tour, the team played as England during the games.

Australia

The first leg of the tour was Australia, where the game of rugby league football was in its twelfth year since splitting away from rugby union in 1908. The tour took in places such as Orange, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Tamworth as well as the standard main venues of Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney and Ipswich.[2]

The opening match of the tour on 5 June saw a match between Metropolis (Sydney) and the tourists at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In front of an overflow crowd of 65,000 the visitors ran out 27-20 winners.

As the preliminary match to the New South Wales versus Britain game on 12 June Sydney University's first intervarsity match against Queensland University under rugby league rules was played before a crowd of 60,000.[3] Sydney won 26-14. Albert Johnston captained New South Wales in two matches against the visiting Lions.[4]

On Saturday, 19 June, the tourists played a match against Queensland before a crowd of around 20,000 at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground.[5] The Queensland side featured Mick Bennett, Neville Broadfoot, Jeff Daly, Harry Fewin, Thomas Johnson, Jack Maguire, Patrick Moran, Claude O’Donnell, Walter Paten, Norm Potter, Bill Richards, Stan Ryan, E. Sabine, Colin Thompson, and J. Thompson.[6] The British team was F G Thomas, J A Bacon, J Doyle, H Wagstaff, F Stockwell, R Lloyd, J Rogers, H Hilton, W Reid, G Rees, R Gronow, E Milnes and E Johnston. Refereed by L H Kearney, the visitors, after leading 13-10 at half-time, won the game 25-15.[7]

First test

The first test of the 1920 Ashes series was played on the 26th of June at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground before a crowd of 32,000. It was refereed by local whistleblower Laurie Kearney.[8] Albert Johnston was selected to captain Australia in the opening Test of the series in the absence of champion centre Herb Gilbert. Despite a last minute reshuffling of the team which saw Johnston move to halfback,[4] Australia won the match 8-4.[9]

Saturday, 26 June
Australia  8 – 4  England
Tries:
Frank Burge
Charles Fraser
Goals:
Harold Horder (1)		 [10] Tries:


Goals:
Ben Gronow (2)
Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
Attendance: 32,000
Referee/s: Laurie Kearney Australia
Australia Posit. England
Harry Fewin FB Gwyn Thomas
Dick Vest WG Billy Stone
Viv Farnsworth CE Danny Hurcombe
Neville Broadfoot CE Harold Wagstaff (c)
Harold Horder WG Jim Bacon
Charles Fraser SO Johnny Rogers
Albert Johnston (c) SH Jonty Parkin
Norm Potter PR Arthur Johnson
Sandy Pearce HK Alf Milnes
Bill Schultz PR Ben Gronow
Bill Richards SR Frank Gallagher
Frank Burge SR Herman Hilton
Bert Gray LF Douglas Clark

Second test

The second Ashes Test was played on the 3rd of July at the Sydney Cricket Ground and attracted 67,739 spectators, then a record attendance for any sport at the SCG.[11] Albert Johnston lost the captaincy on Herb Gilbert's return and played at five-eighth.[4] Australia won the match 21-8,[9] with halfback Duncan Thompson starring,[12] and secured the Ashes for the first time on home soil.

Saturday, 3 July
Australia  21 – 8  England
Tries:
Viv Farnsworth
Herb Gilbert
Harold Horder
Norm Potter
Dick Vest
Goals:
Frank Burge (1)
Harold Horder (1)
Field Goals:
Charles Fraser		 [13] Tries:
Frank Gallagher
Arthur Johnson



Goals:
Ben Gronow (1)
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Attendance: 40,000
Referee/s: Tom McMahon, Sr. Australia
Australia Posit. England
Charles Fraser FB Gwyn Thomas
Dick Vest WG Jim Bacon
Viv Farnsworth CE Harold Wagstaff (c)
Herb Gilbert (c) CE Danny Hurcombe
Harold Horder WG Billy Stone
Albert Johnston SO Johnny Rogers
Duncan Thompson SH Bobby Lloyd
Bill Schultz PR Ben Gronow
Sandy Pearce HK Alf Milnes
Norm Potter PR Arthur Johnson
Frank Burge SR Herman Hilton
Bert Gray SR Douglas Clark
Bill Richards LF Frank Gallagher

Third test

The third Test was played on the 10th of July in Sydney, with Great Britain winning 23-13.[9]

Saturday, 10 July
Australia  13 – 23  England
Tries:
Frank Burge
Bert Gray
Duncan Thompson
Goals:
Frank Burge (2)		 [14] Tries:
Herman Hilton (2)
Billy Stone (2)
Jim Bacon
Goals:
Johnny Rogers (3)
Squire Stockwell (1)
RAS Showground, Sydney
Attendance: 32,000
Referee/s: Tom McMahon, Sr. Australia
Australia Posit. England
Charles Fraser FB Gwyn Thomas (c)
Dick Vest WG Johnny Rogers
Viv Farnsworth CE Billy Stone
Herb Gilbert (c) CE Jim Bacon
Harold Horder WG Squire Stockwell
Albert Johnston SO Ernest Jones
Duncan Thompson SH Jonty Parkin
Norm Potter PR Arthur Skelhorne
Sandy Pearce HK Joe Cartwright
Bill Schultz PR Billy Cunliffe
Frank Burge SR Herman Hilton
Bert Gray SR Douglas Clark
Bill Richards LF Frank Gallagher

The British also played two matches against a Newcastle rugby league team that featured Dan "Laddo" Davies.[15] The first game was on the 25th of August and the tourists won 17-10. The second was on the 28th which they also won 24-3.[16]

New Zealand

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See also: 1920 New Zealand rugby league season

The British team played a three-Test series against New Zealand just as it did against Australia. Karl Ifwerson captained the Kiwis against the tourists.[17]

After losing their first game to Auckland, the tourists won all three Tests.[18]

In the Test at Wellington, the British were behind on the scoreboard 10-0, but made it 10-6 before Douglas Clark forced his way over the line for the match-winning try which Ben Gronow converted, giving the visitors an 11-10 victory.[19]

The second Test was played in Christchurch on Saturday, 7 August, and was won by the tourists 19 points to 3.[20]

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 1st Ashes Test
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 2nd Ashes Test
  14. ↑ 3rd Ashes Test
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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