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Kangaroo
Tour: 1948-1949
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
 The
tour of the first Kangaroos to England after the completion of World
War Two erupted in a storm of controversy the night the team was
selected in Brisbane.
The
team was announced with the astonishing omission of Australia's
incumbent captain-coach for the just completed home series against
New Zealand, Newtown's Len Smith.
Despite
a huge outcry the team was not changed and travelled to England
under the direction of Western Suburbs' centre Col Maxwell. Despite
the difficult beginning the players all got on well and displayed
great team harmony. However, the lack of a leader such as Smith
told on the tour.
The
war and the big-spending of English clubs had its impact on the
squad as the players available had very little experience at Test
level. Looking back, the 7th Kangaroos appear to have had many "name"
players.
However,
they were generally on the rise and their best days were still in
the future. This included Clive Churchill, Les Cowie, Jack Rayner,
Johnny Graves, Wally O'Connell, Doug McRitchie, Keith Froome, Fred
De Belin and Duncan Hall.
Captaincy
for the First Test went to Easts' Wally O'Connell after Maxwell
was injured early in the tour. The match was described as one of
the best Tests yet seen, with Britain running out winners by 23-21.
However, that was as close as the Kangaroos would get. They were
well beaten in the final two Tests 16-7 and 23-9.
The
team played much better in France winning both Tests well.
Tour
Details:
1948/49
v Great Britain & France
GREAT
BRITAIN
1st Test - 9 October : lost 21-23 / Headingley, Leeds (36,394)
2nd
Test - 6 November : lost 7-16 / Station Road, Swinton (43,500)
3rd Test - 29 January : lost 9-23 / Odsal Stadium, Bradford (36,294)
RECORD:
P: 27 W: 15 L: 12 FOR: 348 AGST: 275
TEST SERIES: Lost 0-3
AGGREGATE
ATTENDANCE: 451,756
v
Huddersfield L 3-22 26,017 Huddersfield
v Belle Vue Rovers W 14-9 7,535 Manchester
v Hull W 13-3 16,616 Hull
v Wakefield Trinity W 26-19 20,040 Wakefield
v Leigh W 24-12 12,968 Leigh
v Salford W 13-2 16,627 Salford
v Castleford W 10-8 14,004 Castleford
v GREAT BRITAIN L 21-23 36,394 Headingley, Leeds
v Cumberland L 4-5 8,818 Whitehaven
v St Helens L 8-10 20,175 St Helens
v Dewsbury W 14-4 13,614 Dewsbury
v Hull Kingston Rovers L 12-17 7,614 Hull
v Wigan L 11-16 28,554 Wigan
v Barrow W 11-5 13,143 Barrow
v Leeds W 15-2 13,542 Leeds
v Warrington L 7-16 26,879 Warrington
v GREAT BRITAIN L 7-16 43,500 Station Road, Swinton
v Bradford Northern W 21-7 13,287 Bradford
v Workington Town L 7-10 13,253 Workington
v Swinton W 21-0 5,849 Swinton
v Wales W 12-5 9,161 Swansea
v Yorkshire L 2-5 5,310 Leeds
v Halifax W 10-8 6,520 Halifax
v Oldham W 27-7 14,798 Oldham
v Lancashire L 8-13 11,788 Wigan
v Widnes W 18-8 10,761 Widnes
v GREAT BRITAIN L 9-23 36,294 Odsal Stadium, Bradford
FRANCE
1st Test : won 29-10 / Marseilles
(15,796)
2nd
Test : won 10-0 / Bordeaux (17,365)
RECORD:
P: 10 W: 9 L: 1 FOR: 279 AGST: 71
TEST SERIES: Won 2-0
AGGREGATE
ATTENDANCE: 77,010
v FRANCE W 29-10 15,796 Marseilles
v FRANCE W 10-0 17,365 Bordeaux
v Pyrenees W 43-3 6,806 Toulouse
v Catalan XIII L 5-20 12,254 Perpignan
v Carcassonne W 13-8 7,990 Carcassonne
v Languedoc W 38-0 2,300 Beziers
v Cannes W 60-7 1,100 Cannes
v French XIII W 30-8 4,385 Romans
v Lyon/Roanne XIII W 29-10 4,514 Lyon
v Cavaillon W 22-5 4,500 Avignon
EASTERN
SUBURBS 2 (Vic Bulgin, Wally O'Connell)
SOUTH SYDNEY 4 (Len Cowie, Johnny Graves, Clive Churchill, Jack
Rayner)
NORTH SYDNEY 1 (Neville Hand)
NEWTOWN 3 (Keith Froome, Noel Mulligan, Frank Johnson)
BALMAIN 2 (Fred De Belin, Bobby Lulham)
WESTERN SUBURBS 1 (Colin Maxwell Capt.)
ST GEORGE 2 (Jack Holland, Doug McRitchie)
CANTERBURY 1 (Bruce Hopkins)
MANLY 0
PARRAMATTA 0
QUEENSLAND 8 (Henry Benton, Eddie Brosnan, Duncan Hall, Jack Horrigan,
Pat McMahon, Len Pegg, Billy Thompson, Bill Tyquin)
NSW COUNTRY 4 (Bobby Dimond, Alf Gibbs, Johnny Hawke, Kevin Schubert)
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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