The 1974 Great Britain Lions tour was the

Great Britain national rugby league team The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

's 15th tour of Australasia and took place from May to August 1974. A total of 28 matches were played against local club and representative sides during the tour, including a three match

Test match 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) ...

series against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

respectively.

Touring squad

In March 1974, a 26-man squad was selected for the tour, with

Chris Hesketh Christopher Hesketh (28 November 1944 – 10 August 2017) was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Lancashire as ...

appointed as captain. After the squad was selected,

Keith Fielding Keith John Fielding (born 8 July 1949) is an English dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a winger. He played representative level rugby union for England, a ...

withdrew from the tour as his wife was expecting a baby in June. He was replaced by

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment *John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American performer *John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist * John Butler (author) (born 1937), British author and YouTuber *John Butler (born 1954), ...

Mike Nicholas Michael Nicholas (30 July 1946) is the President of Wales Rugby League. He is a Welsh former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and has coached or been the team manager of the Wales Rugby Le ...

was also forced to withdraw due to injuries sustained in the

1974 Challenge Cup Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

final, and was replaced by Jimmy Thompson.

Results

Australia

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

New Zealand

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

References

{{Great Britain Lions tours Great Britain national rugby league team tours Rugby league tours of Australia Australia–United Kingdom relations Rugby league tours of New Zealand New Zealand–United Kingdom relations Great Britain Lions tour Great Britain Lions tour Great Britain Lions tour