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Kangaroo
Tour: 1937-1938
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
Australia was
handicapped for the Kangaroo Tour with many of its best players
already in England signed to local clubs. Captained by Newcastle's
Wally Prigg, the side had only one specialist five-eighth (Ernie
Norman), no recognised hooker and a sole goal kicker who wasn't
even his club's kicker (Jack Beaton).
The
tour started with an ill-considered three match tour (2 Tests) of
New Zealand before sailing for England. The Kiwis won one Test,
Australia was fortunate to escape with a win in the other, and lost
a tour game against a Maori team - results the Kangaroos brooded
over all the way to Britain.
Reports
of the Kangaroos' less than convincing form hardly set the English
supporters alight with anticipation.
The Kangaroos were far from impressive winning only 13 of 25 games.
Many of the club games were almost "reunions" as they
faced some well-known Aussies!
For
all their limitations the 6th Kangaroos remarkably came close to
actually taking the Ashes. They unluckily lost the First Test to
England 5-4 after forgoing an opportunity to kick a late penalty
goal to win. They were soundly beaten 13-3 in the Second Test.
In the 3rd Test they played exceedingly well and won 13-3. The Kangaroos
then toured France winning nine of their ten games, including the
two Tests. Due to WW2 none of the Australians returned with the
7th Kangaroos, 10 years later.
Tour
Details:
1937/38
v England & France
ENGLAND
1st Test - 16 October : lost 4-5 / Headingley, Leeds (31,949)2
2nd Test - 13 November : lost 3-13 / Station Road, Swinton (31,724)
3rd
Test - 18 December : won 13-3 / Fartown, Huddersfield (9,403)
RECORD: P:
25 W: 13 D: 1 L: 11 FOR: 293 AGST: 232
TEST SERIES: Lost 1-2
AGGREGATE
ATTENDANCE: 243,717
v
Leigh W 11-9 5,000 Leigh
v York W 15-6 5,000 York
v Newcastle W 37-0 4,000 Newcastle
v Lancashire L 5-7 16,250 Warrington
v Halifax L 2-12 14,500 Halifax
v Yorkshire W 8-4 7,570 Bradford
v Wakefield Trinity W 17-10 8,696 Wakefield
v Rochdale Hornets W 6-0 2,400 Rochdale
v ENGLAND L 4-5 31,949 Leeds
v Widnes D 13-13 4,201 Widnes
v Hull W 22-12 15,000 Hull
v Bradford Northern W 19-6 5,748 Bradford
v Salford L 8-11 12,000 Salford
v Wigan W 25-23 9,800 Wigan
v Oldham W 10-6 15,000 Oldham
v ENGLAND L 3-13 31,724 Swinton
v Liverpool Stanley W 28-9 1,500 Liverpool
v Huddersfield L 7-17 9,383 Huddersfield
v Swinton L 3-5 4,113 Swinton
v Warrington L 6-8 12,637 Warrington
v Leeds L 8-21 5,000 Leeds
v St Helens XIII W 15-7 2,000 St Helens
v Barrow L 8-12 8,153 Barrow
v ENGLAND W 13-3 9,093 Huddersfield
v Broughton Rovers L 0-13 3,000 Broughton
FRANCE
1st
Test : won 35-6 / Paris (11,500)
2nd
Test :
won 16-11 / Marseilles (24,000)
RECORD:
P: 10 W: 9 L: 1 FOR: 267 AGST: 80
TEST SERIES: Won 2-0
v
FRANCE W 35-6 11,500 Paris
v FRANCE W 16-11 24,000 Marseilles
v Roanne W 20-13 Roanne
v South-West France W 12-11 10,000 Bordeaux
v Albi W 47-3 Albi
v Catalan W 53-2 8,000 Perpignan
v Cote Basque W 33-8 Bayonne
v South France L 0-15 15,000 Toulouse
v Villeneue W 26-3 8,000 Villeneuve
v South-East France W 25-8 Lyon
EASTERN
SUBURBS 8 (Jack Beaton, Ross McKinnon, Ernie Norman, Andy Norval,
Joe Pearce, Harry Pierce, Ray Stehr)
SOUTH SYDNEY 3 (Frank Curran, Eric Lewis, Percy Williams)
NORTH SYDNEY 3 (Fred Nolan, Roy Thompson, Laurie Ward)
NEWTOWN 1 (Herb Narvo)
BALMAIN 1 (Frank Griffiths)
WESTERN SUBURBS 0
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY 0
ST GEORGE 1 (Percy Fairall)
CANTERBURY 0
QUEENSLAND 7 (Edward Collins, Fred Gilbert, Les Heidke, Doug McLean,
Jack Reardon, Harry Robison, Gordon Whittle)
NSW COUNTRY 6 (Wally Prigg Capt., Les Dawson, Jimmy Gibbs,
Charlie Hazelton, Gordon MacLennan, Bert Williams)
Copyright
© 2006 - Sean Fagan. All rights reserved - the article above may
not be reproduced (in full or part) in any form without written
permission.
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