1985 Kangaroo tour of New Zealand

The 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand was a mid-season tour of New Zealand by the Australia national rugby league team. The Australians played six matches on tour, including the final two games of a three-game test series against the New Zealand with the first test taking place in Brisbane on 18 June. The NZ tour began on 19 June and finished on 10 July.[1]

Leadership

After long time coach Frank Stanton stepped down from representative coaching duties after Australia's successful defense of The Ashes in 1984 against the touring Great Britain Lions, the Australian Rugby League appointed former World Cup and Parramatta Eels coach Terry Fearnley as head coach of the Kangaroos. The team was captained by Wally Lewis who had also captained the team in 1984.

Controversy

While he was named Australian coach, Terry Fearnley had also been appointed as New South Wales State of Origin coach in 1985. The Blues won their first ever Origin series in 1985 after winning games 1 and two. In what was to prove a case of bad planning, the test series and the tour of New Zealand were scheduled to take place between games 2 and 3 of the Origin series.

Rumours soon surfaced that Fearnley and Lewis did not get along on tour. Lewis later confirmed this by admitting in television interviews that the pair hated each other while Fearnley openly admitted that in light of the circumstances he could have done a better job in bringing the team together. Lewis also publicly stated that he believed Fearnley openly favoured the teams vice-captain, NSW's Wayne Pearce as well as the rest of the Kangaroos who were in his NSW team. At one point before the third test in Auckland, Lewis claimed to have caught Fearnley and Pearce going over team selection in Fearnely's hotel room, something strongly denied by the pair.

Fearnley himself created controversy on the tour. In the book King Wally which was published in 1987, Wally Lewis claimed that Fearnley had said of team member Michael O'Connor (a NSW player) "Can't play, no heart. Lucky he can kick goals or he wouldn't be here". The publishing of this story led to some animosity over the coming years between Lewis and O'Connor despite them being regular test team mates until the end of 1989. But the biggest controversy came from the team selection for the third test. Fearnley dropped four players from the second test win, all Queenslanders (Chris Close, Mark Murray, Greg Dowling and Greg Conescu - Close and Dowling dropped to the bench), which caused all hell to break loose and prompted Queensland Rugby League Chairman, Senator Ron McAuliffe, to publicly condemn the dropping of the four Queensland players from a winning Test side, saying "Its a football assassination and beyond all reasoning. And there can be no reasonable excuse for it".[2]

With the replacement players in place (Steve Ella, Des Hasler, Peter Tunks and Benny Elias), the disjointed Kangaroos would go on to lose the third test 18–0, the first time they had been held scoreless since losing 19–0 to Great Britain in 1956. Such was the animosity in the group between the NSW and Qld players that according to second row forward Paul Vautin (a Queenslander), dropped players Mark Murray and Greg Conescu acted as the Australian teams statisticians for the game. In his book Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin, he told that both recorded a number of errors that were actually made by team mates to the players who replaced them in the side, Hasler and Elias.[3]

Terry Fearnley stepped down as Australian coach following the tour. He would be replaced in 1986 by 1956–57 Kangaroo tourist and Canberra Raiders head coach Don Furner.

As a result of the problems during the tour, the Australian Rugby League made a number of decisions for future Australian teams, including:

  • No current State of Origin coach can also be the current Australian coach.
  • Mid-season test series will take place after the Origin series and not during one to avoid bringing the NSW vs Qld rivalry into the Australian team.

Touring squad

Player Club Position(s) Games Tries Goals F/Goals Points
Noel Cleal Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Second-row, Centre
Chris Close Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Centre, Wing
Greg Conescu Brothers (Gladstone) Hooker
Greg Dowling Wynnum Manly Seagulls Prop
Benny Elias Balmain Tigers Hooker
Steve Ella Parramatta Eels Centre, Five-eighth
John Ferguson Eastern Suburbs Roosters Wing
Des Hasler Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Halfback
Garry Jack Balmain Tigers Fullback
Wally Lewis (c) Wynnum Manly Seagulls Five-eighth
Mal Meninga Souths Magpies Centre
Mark Murray Redcliffe Dolphins Halfback
Michael O'Connor St George Dragons Centre, Wing
Wayne Pearce (vc) Balmain Tigers Lock
John Ribot Redcliffe Dolphins Wing
Steve Roach Balmain Tigers Prop
Peter Tunks Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Prop
Paul Vautin Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Lock, Second-row
Peter Wynn Parramatta Eels Second-row

First test

Immediately prior to the tour, the first test took place at Lang Park in Brisbane on 18 June. This match is most remembered for the sideline fight between rival prop forwards Greg Dowling and Kevin Tamati after the pair had been sent to the sin-bin for fighting.[4]

Tuesday, 18 June
Australia  26 – 20  New Zealand
Tries:
John Ribot (2)
Noel Cleal
Chris Close
Goals:
Mal Meninga (2)
John Ribot (1)
[5] Tries:
Dean Bell
Olsen Filipaina
Hugh McGahan
Goals:
Olsen Filipaina (4)
Lang Park, Brisbane
Attendance: 22,000
Referee: Julien Rascagneres
Australia
New Zealand
FB1 Garry Jack
LW2 John Ribot
RC3 Chris Close
LC4 Mal Meninga
RW5 John Ferguson
FE6 Wally Lewis (c)
HB7 Mark Murray
PR8 Greg Dowling
HK9 Greg Conescu
PR10 Steve Roach
SR11 Noel Cleal
SR12 Peter Wynn
LF13 Wayne Pearce
Substitutions:
IC14 Steve Ella
IC15 Peter Tunks
Coach:
Terry Fearnley
FB1 Gary Kemble
LW2 Dean Bell
RC3 Gary Prohm
LC4 James Leuluai
RW5 Dane O'Hara
FE6 Olsen Filipaina
HB7 Clayton Friend
PR8 Owen Wright
HK9 Howie Tamati
PR10 Kevin Tamati
SR11 Kurt Sorensen
SR12 Mark Graham (c)
LK13 Hugh McGahan
Substitutions:
IC14 Riki Cowan
IC15 Mark Elia
Coach:
Graham Lowe

Tour

The Australian's played six games on the tour, winning five.




Second test

The Australian's escaped with a 10-6 win over New Zealand thanks to a last minute try to winger John Ribot.

Sunday, 30 June
New Zealand  6 – 10  Australia
Tries:
James Leuluai
Goals:
Olsen Filipaina (1)
Tries:
John Ribot
Goals:
Mal Meninga (2)
John Ribot (1)
Carlaw Park, Auckland
Attendance: 19,132
Referee: Julien Rascagneres
Man of the Match: Olsen Filipaina
New Zealand
Australia
FB1 Gary Kemble
LW2 Dean Bell
RC3 Gary Prohm
LC4 James Leuluai
RW5 Dane O'Hara
FE6 Olsen Filipaina
HB7 Clayton Friend
PR8 Owen Wright
HK9 Howie Tamati
PR10 Kevin Tamati
SR11 Kurt Sorensen
SR12 Mark Graham (c)
LK13 Hugh McGahan
Substitutions:
IC14 Joe Ropati
IC15 Riki Cowan
Coach:
Graham Lowe
FB1 Garry Jack
LW2 John Ribot
RC3 Chris Close
LC4 Mal Meninga
RW5 John Ferguson
FE6 Wally Lewis (c)
HB7 Mark Murray
PR8 Greg Dowling
HK9 Greg Conescu
PR10 Steve Roach
SR11 Paul Vautin
SR12 Peter Wynn
LF13 Wayne Pearce
Substitutions:
IC14 Noel Cleal
IC15 Steve Ella
Coach:
Terry Fearnley


Third test

The dead rubber third test also doubled as the first game of the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup tournament. John Ribot, Steve Ella, John Ferguson, Peter Wynn and Chris Close played their last tests for Australia.

Sunday, 7 July
New Zealand  18 – 0  Australia
Tries:
Clayton Friend (2)
James Leuluai
Goals:
Olsen Filipaina (3)
Tries:


Goals:
Carlaw Park, Auckland
Attendance: 15,327
Referee: Julien Rascagneres
Man of the Match: Clayton Friend
New Zealand
Australia
FB1 Gary Kemble
LW2 Dean Bell
RC3 Gary Prohm
LC4 James Leuluai
RW5 Dane O'Hara
FE6 Olsen Filipaina
HB7 Clayton Friend
PR8 Owen Wright
HK9 Howie Tamati
PR10 Kevin Tamati
SR11 Kurt Sorensen
SR12 Mark Graham (c)
LK13 Hugh McGahan
Substitutions:
IC14 Joe Ropati
IC15 Riki Cowan
Coach:
Graham Lowe
FB1 Garry Jack
LW2 John Ribot
RC3 Mal Meninga
LC4 Brett Kenny
RW5 John Ferguson
FE6 Wally Lewis (c)
HB7 Des Hasler
PR8 Peter Tunks
HK9 Benny Elias
PR10 Steve Roach
SR11 Paul Vautin
SR12 Peter Wynn
LF13 Wayne Pearce
Substitutions:
IC14 Chris Close
IC15 Greg Dowling
Coach:
Terry Fearnley


References

  1. 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand @ Rugby League Project
  2. McGregor, Adrian (1987). King Wally. Qld: Tandem Press. ISBN 9780908884353.
  3. Colman, Mike (1992). Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin. Sydney: Ironbark Press. ISBN 9781875471171.
  4. Dowling vs Tamati fight
  5. 1st Test - Australia vs New Zealand
  6. South Island vs Australia
  7. Central Districts vs Australia
  8. Northern Districts vs Australia
  9. Auckland vs Australia
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