The 2015 New Zealand rugby league tour of England 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

played a match against the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headin ...

and competed in a three match test series against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for the

Baskerville Shield The Baskerville Shield is a trophy awarded to the winner of rugby league test series between England and New Zealand. It named in honour of Albert Henry Baskerville, who organised the first ever tour by New Zealand of Great Britain in 1907. Th ...

, losing 2-1.

Background

Great Britain - New Zealand rugby league test, 2007

New Zealand had originally intended to host a tour against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, while Australia was speculated to host a

Great Britain Lions 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, ...

tour. However the

Australian Rugby League Commission The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

declined to host a tour and as an alternative the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

invited the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

to tour Great Britain for a three match series. New Zealand was last in the United Kingdom for the World Cup in 2013. On 25 February 2015, the three test match venues were confirmed with Hull's

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

hosting game one on 1 November, the

London Olympic Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is located ...

hosting the second test on 7 November and the final test match being held at Wigan's

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

on 14 November. The match against Leeds was the first time a Super League side had played a touring side since 2002, when the Kiwis played matches against

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and St. Helens. It was the first time that Leeds played New Zealand since 1992. The match celebrated the 125th anniversary of

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Rugby Stadium. Leeds has defeated New Zealand once in eleven matches between the two teams.

Squad

Training squad

An initial training squad was named on 8 September 2015 and added to as teams were eliminated from the NRL finals.

Kieran Foran Kieran Foran (born 13 July 1990) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL and New Zealand at international level. Foran previously played for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, ...

was among those initially named but he later withdrew due to injury, joining Shaun Johnson, Thomas Leuluai,

Manu Vatuvei Manu Mapuhola Mafi-Vatuvei (born 4 March 1986), also known by the nickname "The Beast", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer and convicted methamphetamine importer who was both a Tonga and New Zealand international repres ...

, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Jared Warea-Hargreaves as being unavailable for the tour. Skipper

Simon Mannering Simon Alexander Mannering (born 28 August 1986) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL. A New Zealand international second row forward, ...

was also later made unavailable for the test series due to injury.

Final squad

The final touring squad of 23 players was named on 8 October. On 10 October,

Jason Taumalolo Vaai "Jason" Taumalolo (born 31 May 1993) is a professional rugby league footballer who captains and plays as a or forward for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL. He has played for Tonga and New Zealand at international level. Taumalol ...

withdrew from the touring 23-man squad due to a knee injury. He was replaced by

Manaia Cherrington Manaia Cherrington (born 2 August 1994) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Wests Magpies in the New South Wales Cup. He plays at and previously played for the New Zealand Warriors, Wests Tigers and the Cro ...

Curtis Rona Curtis Rona (born 26 May 1992) is a former Australian international rugby union footballer who recently played for London Irish in the English Premiership. He now plays for Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Sagamihara Dynaboars. He has previously pla ...

left the tour after the second test match, returning to Australia to be present for the birth of his daughter.

Venues

The four matches were played at the following venues in England.

Fixtures

New Zealand played four matches on tour, including three test matches against England. England also played a test match against

on 24 October.

Game 1

Gerard Beale Gerard Beale (born 18 July 1990) is a New Zealand international rugby league professional footballer who last played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. Beale previously played for the Brisbane Broncos, St. George Illawarra and ...

was originally named to play but was replaced by Lewis Brown.

Test 1

Alex Glenn Alex Glenn (born 31 July 1988) is a former professional rugby league footballer who captained and played as a and for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. He has played for both the and at international level. Background Glenn was born in Auckl ...

and Lewis Brown were named as 18th and 19th man respectively for the Kiwis.

Test 2

Stephen Kearney originally named

Tuimoala Lolohea Tuimoala Lolohea (born 23 January 1995) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Huddersfield Giants in the Betfred Super League. He has played for both New Zealand and Tonga at international level. Lolohea previou ...

at halfback before selecting

Kodi Nikorima Kodi Nikorima (born 3 April 1994) is an Australia-based New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a and for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the New Zealand W ...

to start the match.

Test 3

With the win, England retained the

. Isaac Liu and

were 18th and 19th man respectively for New Zealand.

Aftermath

England's captain, Sean O'Loughlin was awarded the George Smith Medal as player of the series. This was England's first major series win in 8 years with their last win coming in the previous Kiwis tour of Great Britain.

References

{{Kiwis tours New Zealand national rugby league team tours Great Britain and France New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France Rugby league tours of Great Britain