The 1998 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain was a tour by the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

. The

defeated

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 ...

2–0 in the three match test series.

Background

New Zealand arrived in Great Britain for the first time since the 1995 World Cup, having already lost a test series 1–2 with

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 ...

. It was the first full tour of Great Britain by a New Zealand side since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Many of the squad, including coach

Frank Endacott Frank Morris Endacott , also known by the nickname of "Happy Frank", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, and coach. Background His son, Shane, also played rugby league. Playing career Endacott played for Addington and ...

, had been involved in the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

' 1998 season, where they had finished 15th out of 20 clubs. In addition to this the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

were looking to sell the club during the tour.

Squad

The squad included two sets of brothers; the Iros,

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

and

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and the Pauls,

Robbie Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob (given name), Rob or Robin (name), Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given nam ...

and

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

. *Coach:

(

)

Fixtures

They won the first two test matches 22–16 and 36–16 before being held to a 23-all draw in the third and final test match. Australian referee

Bill Harrigan Bill Harrigan (born 24 May 1960 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league football referee, and former head of refereeing for the National Rugby League. Unusually for a sports official, in his long career he was accorded the ...

controlled all three Test matches. In the second test match Great Britain were ahead 16–8 at halftime before letting in 28 points in the second half to lose the match and the series.

Aftermath

New Zealand next competed against Great Britain in the 1999 Tri-Nations but did not tour Great Britain again until the 2000 World Cup. The next full tour was conducted in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

which saw a drawn test series 1-all. The

were sold to a consortium that included majority investor the

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are oth ...

tribe as well as

Graham Lowe Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the Bradford Bulls together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former rugby league football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the ...

and Malcolm Boyle.Endacott seeks a new warrior class The coach of New Zealand's rugby league Test side is totally focused on a series victory
''The Independent'', 30 October 1998 Kiwi coach Frank Endacott was replaced as Warriors coach and several Kiwis left the club included

Stephen Kearney Stephen Peter Kearney (born 11 June 1972) is a New Zealand professional rugby league football coach who until 2020 was the head coach of the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL and a former player. A New Zealand national captain and second-row for ...

Quentin Pongia Quentin Lee Pongia (9 July 1970 – 18 May 2019) was a New Zealand rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand in the 1990s and 2000s. Background He was the grandson of fellow Kiwi international Jim Calder. His sister Megan Tahapeehi ...

, and

Kevin Iro Kevin Leslie Iro (born 24 May 1968), also known by the nickname of '"The Beast", is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and coached in the 2000s. He played at representative level for New Zeala ...

. Endacott's next coaching assignment would be the 1999 ANZAC Test on 23 April.

References

{{Kiwis tours New Zealand national rugby league team tours

New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain Rugby league tours of Great Britain