The 1980 Tooth Cup was the 7th edition of the NSWRFL Midweek Cup, a NSWRFL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRFL, the BRL, the CRL, the QRL and the NZRL.
A total of 16 teams from across Australia and New Zealand played 23 matches in a round-robin format with teams playing 2 games each with the top 8 teams advanced to a knockout stage, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.
Qualified Teams TeamNicknameLeagueQualificationParticipation (bold indicates winners)St. GeorgeDragonsNSWRFLWinners of the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th Canterbury-BankstownBulldogsNSWRFLRunners-Up in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th ParramattaEelsNSWRFLThird Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th Cronulla-SutherlandSharksNSWRFLFourth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th Western SuburbsMagpiesNSWRFLFifth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th BalmainTigersNSWRFLSixth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th Manly-WarringahSea EaglesNSWRFLSeventh Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th Eastern SuburbsRoostersNSWRFLEighth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th South SydneyRabbitohsNSWRFLNinth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th PenrithPanthersNSWRFLTenth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th NewtownJetsNSWRFLEleventh Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th North SydneyBearsNSWRFLTwelfth Place in the 1979 New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership7th BrisbanePoinsettiasBRLLeague Representative Team2nd NSW CountryKangaroosCRLCountry League Representative Team2nd Queensland CountryMaroonsQRLCountry League Representative Team2nd AucklandFalconsNZRLWinners of the 1979 New Zealand Rugby League Inter-District Premiership7th
Venues SydneyBrisbaneQueanbeyan Leichhardt Oval Lang Park Seiffert Oval Capacity: 23,000 Capacity: 45,000 Capacity: 20,000
Round 1 Date Winner Score Loser Score Venue2/04/80 Eastern Suburbs 14 Combined Brisbane 4 Lang Park9/04/80 St George 16 Balmain 5 Leichhardt Oval16/04/80 Newtown 22 Manly-Warringah 7 Leichhardt Oval23/04/80 Penrith 26 Cronulla-Sutherland 14 Leichhardt Oval30/04/80 Parramatta 20 South Sydney 7 Leichhardt Oval7/05/80 Western Suburbs 40 Auckland 14 Leichhardt Oval21/05/80 Canterbury-Bankstown 35 NSW Country 3 Leichhardt Oval28/05/80 North Sydney 40 QLD Country 5 Leichhardt Oval
Round 2 Date Winner Score Loser Score Venue14/05/80 Eastern Suburbs 11 Newtown 10 Leichhardt Oval4/06/80 Parramatta 18 Western Suburbs 11 Leichhardt Oval11/06/80 Cronulla-Sutherland 19 Canterbury-Bankstown 18 Leichhardt Oval18/06/80 Combined Brisbane 27 Manly-Warringah 20 Lang Park25/06/80 South Sydney 47 Auckland 5 Leichhardt Oval25/06/80 St George 40 North Sydney 9 Leichhardt Oval2/07/80 Penrith 18 NSW Country 9 Seiffert Oval2/07/80 Balmain 45 QLD Country 5 Lang Park
Club Played Won Lost Drawn For Against Diff. Points St George 2 2 0 0 56 14 42 4 Penrith 2 2 0 0 44 23 21 4 Parramatta 2 2 0 0 38 18 20 4 Eastern Suburbs 2 2 0 0 25 14 11 4 Canterbury-Bankstown 2 1 1 0 53 22 31 2 South Sydney 2 1 1 0 54 25 29 2 Balmain 2 1 1 0 50 21 29 2 Western Suburbs 2 1 1 0 51 32 19 2 Newtown 2 1 1 0 32 18 14 2 North Sydney 2 1 1 0 49 45 4 2 Combined Brisbane 2 1 1 0 34 34 -3 2 Cronulla-Sutherland 2 1 1 0 33 44 -11 2 Manly-Warringah 2 0 2 0 27 49 -22 0 NSW Country 2 0 2 0 12 53 -41 0 Auckland 2 0 2 0 19 87 -68 0 QLD Country 2 0 2 0 10 85 -75 0
Quarter finals
Date Winner Score Loser Score Venue9/07/80 Eastern Suburbs 20 Penrith 9 Leichhardt Oval16/07/80 Western Suburbs 10 St George 4 Leichhardt Oval23/07/80 Parramatta 16 Canterbury-Bankstown 7 Leichhardt Oval30/07/80 Balmain 22 South Sydney 14 Leichhardt Oval
Semi finals
Date Winner Score Loser Score Venue6/08/80 Parramatta 9 Western Suburbs 6 Leichhardt Oval13/08/80 Balmain 18 Eastern Suburbs 8 Leichhardt Oval
Final Date Winner Score Loser Score Venue20/08/80 Parramatta 8 Balmain 5 Leichhardt Oval
Player of the Series Peter Sterling (Parramatta) Golden Try John Dorahy (Manly-Warringah)
Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20070927025237/http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~maajjs/aus/nsw/sum/nsw1980.htm