The 1948–49 Kangaroo tour was the seventh

Kangaroo tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

, in which the

Australian national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

travelled to Great Britain and France and played thirty-seven matches, including the

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

of three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, an international match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and two Test matches against the French. It followed the tour of 1937-38 and a cessation of overseas international tours due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The next was staged in 1952-53.

The squad's leadership

The team was selected with

Col Maxwell Colin Maxwell (1917–2001) was an Australian international rugby league footballer whose career ran from the 1930s to the 1950s. He was a centre for the Australian national team in one Test in 1948 in which he captained the side. Club career ...

as captain and

Bill Tyquin Bill Tyquin (1919–1999) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. An Australia national rugby league team, Australia national representative lock forward, he played in 6 Test match (rugby ...

as vice-captain. Tour co-managers were Bill Buckley and Eric Simmonds. Maxwell captained the team on 12 occasions, including the Second Test against Great Britain.
Tyquin captained the team in 10 matches, including the exhibition match against South Australia and in three Test matches, the two victories over France and the Third Test loss to Great Britain.

Wally O'Connell Wally O'Connell OAM (6 April 1923 – 28 June 2017) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was a for the Australian national team. He played in ten Test ...

captained the Kangaroos in the First Test Match against Great Britain, the international against Wales, and on six other occasions (Salford, Cumberland, St Helens, Bradford Northern, Swindon, and Yorkshire). In the matches in which neither Maxwell, Tyquin nor O’Connell played, the Kangaroos were captained by

Keith Froome George Keith Froome (1920–1978) was an Australian rugby league player. He was a halfback for the Australian national team. He played in eight Tests between 1948 and 1949 as captain on two occasions. Playing career Known as Keith, he was born ...

on 3 occasions (Dewsbury, Hull Kingston Rovers, and Lancashire), William Thompson on 3 occasions (Castleford, Languedoc, and Cannes) and

Doug McRitchie Douglas Allan McRitchie (1923–1998) was an Australian rugby league player who played in the 1940s and 1950s. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative centre, he played his club football in Sydney for the St. George club ...

twice (Hull & Leigh).

Touring squad

The ''Rugby League News'' published
photo
and the names and states of the selected players. Match details - listing surnames of both teams and the point scorers - were included in ''E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook'', as was a summary of the players' point-scoring.
Benton, Brosnan, Hall, Horrigan, McMahon, Pegg, Thompson, and Tyquin were selected from Queensland clubs. Dimond, Gibbs, Hawke, and Schubert were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1948 season. Note: Tallies in he table above ''excludes'' the exhibition match against South Australia. Including the 13 match appearances and 96 points from the South Australia match would alter the leading try-scorer, with

Bob Lulham Robert John Lulham (2 November 1926 – 24 December 1986) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australia national rugby league team, Australia international and New South Wales rugby league team, New So ...

(M 19, T 17, P 51) and Jack Horrigan (M 21, T 17, G 14, P 79) sharing that title with 17 tries each. The tour's leading point-scorer did not play in the South Australia match.
Adjustments for the other 11 players in the South Australia match would be Henry Benton (M 11, G 1, P 2), Vic Bulgin (M 17, T 2, G 1, FG 1, P 10),

Bobby Dimond Robert Henry Dimond (30 July 1930 – 30 May 2020) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He was selected to play for Australia and was a member of the 1948 Kangaroo Tour. He played 20 matches on the tour ...

(M 16, T 14, P 42), Alf Gibbs (M 20, T 4, P 12),

Nevyl Hand Nevyl Hand (1924-2014) was an Australian professional rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players ...

(M 14, T 5, P 15), Johnny Hawke (M 24, T 12, P 36), Bruce Hopkins (M 14, T 3, G 13, P 35),

(M 15, T 5, P 15),

Noel Mulligan Noel Mulligan (April 12, 1926 - March 11, 2000), also known by the nickname of "The Count", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australia national rugby league team, Australian internatio ...

(M 22, T 7, G 1, P 23),

Jack Rayner Rupert John Raynor (11 April 1921 – 17 May 2008) was an Australian state and national representative rugby league player and NSWRFL coach. His club playing career was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 1946 to 1957 and he also represented ...

(M 25, T 6, G 1, P 20), and

(M 15, T 6, G 1, P 20).

Match results

The tourists travelled to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

aboard the , making stops in Adelaide, Perth,

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

. A scheduled exhibition match in Perth was cancelled when, due to rough seas in the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrog ...

, the arrival of the RMS ''Maloja'' into

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

was delayed. Also due to delays, arrangements were made to fly the players from

into England. This was accomplished in two flights, with one plane flying into Manchester and the other into the outskirts of London.

Exhibition Match

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In Great Britain

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1st Test vs Great Britain

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2nd Test vs Great Britain

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Only Test vs Wales

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in France

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1st Test vs France

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2nd Test vs France

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3rd Test v Great Britain

This Test Match was originally intended to be played on December 18, 1948, Due to dense fog at the ground (Odsal) in the hours prior to the match, play was abandoned and the match rescheduled to occur after the French leg of the tour. Curiously, the fog of December 18 cleared around the scheduled time, 2.45pm, of kick-off. The morning of January 29 again saw for at the ground (Odsal), but this cleared by lunch-time and the postponed match was played out under clear skies. ----

Sources

References

External links

1948-49 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:1948-49 Kangaroo tour Australia national rugby league team tours Rugby league tours of Great Britain Rugby league tours of France