The 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the sixteenth Kangaroo tour in which the Australian national rugby league team (known as the Winfield Kangaroos due to sponsorship) plays a number of tour matches against British and French teams, in addition to the Test matches. The next Kangaroo tour was staged in 1990.
Australia continued its dominance, easily winning both Test series against Great Britain and France as well as defeating Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on the way to England, going through the entire tour undefeated in a repeat of the 1982 Invincibles' tour which saw the 1986 team became known as "The Unbeatables". In twenty matches they scored 136 tries and conceded only 16, posting 738 points for and 126 against. Terry Lamb became the first player to appear in every match on a Kangaroo Tour.
The team was coached by 1956/57 Kangaroo tourist Don Furner, who also coached the Canberra Raiders in the NSWRL that year. The squad was captained by Queensland captain Wally Lewis, the first time a Queensland based player had captained a Kangaroo tour since Tom Gorman led the 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Peter Sterling was named as the tour's vice-captain, while the tour managers were Gordon Treichel and John Fleming.
National Panasonic put up AU$5,000 worth of products for the Australian player who voted as player of the tour. Team sponsor Winfield also put up $1,000 for the Australian player judged the player of the match for each Test match played on the tour.
Squad Of the 28 players selected to go on the tour 23 were from clubs of the New South Wales Rugby League and 5 were from clubs of the Brisbane Rugby League. This was the last time players from the Queensland-based competition were selected for a Kangaroo tour.
There were a couple of notable omissions from the touring team. Parramatta Eels test winger Eric Grothe had originally been selected in the side and even had pre-tour publicity photos taken with the rest of the team. However he was ruled out late with the recurrence of a knee injury and his place was taken by young Penrith halfback Greg Alexander. The other was regular Australian vice-captain Wayne Pearce who had ruptured his Anterior cruciate ligament during the 1986 Trans-Tasman Test series against New Zealand in July. Despite an intense rehabilitation program, and being passed as fit by his surgeon, Dr Merv Cross, Pearce was ruled out of the tour by team medico Dr Bill Monoghan after a pre-tour team physical conducted at Redfern Oval in Sydney.
Surprisingly, the 1986 NSWRL Winfield Cup premiers Parramatta only supplied two players to the Kangaroos squad (vice-captain Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny). Conversely, the 1986 Brisbane premiers Wynnum-Manly supplied four players to the squad (captain Wally Lewis, Greg Dowling, Bob Lindner and Gene Miles). With the exception of Dowling who did not play the pre-tour test against Papua New Guinea, all six 1986 premiership winners played in each test on the tour.
NOTE: Statistics only show games in Great Britain and France and do not include the test against Papua New Guinea. Sub total is included in full games total Player Club Position(s) Games (sub) Tests (sub) Tries Goals Points Greg Alexander Penrith Panthers 9 (1) - 10 5 50 Gary Belcher Canberra Raiders 10 - 6 0 24 Martin Bella North Sydney Bears 8 (2) - 1 0 4 Noel Cleal Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 7 2 3 0 12 Phil Daley Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 7 - 0 0 0 Les Davidson South Sydney Rabbitohs 14 3 (2) 0 0 0 Greg Dowling Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (Qld) 11 5 1 0 4 Paul Dunn Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 11 4 0 0 0 Ben Elias Balmain Tigers 10 - 3 0 12 Steve Folkes Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 6 1 1 0 4 Des Hasler Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 8 - 4 0 16 Garry Jack Balmain Tigers 12 5 12 0 48 Brett Kenny Parramatta Eels 14 5 8 0 32 Les Kiss North Sydney Bears 4 1 1 0 4 Terry Lamb Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 20 5 (5) 19 20 116 Paul Langmack Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 10 - 3 0 12 Wally Lewis (c) Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (Qld) 11 5 6 0 24 Bob Lindner Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (Qld) 10 5 6 0 24 Mal Meninga Canberra Raiders 13 3 (2) 9 7 50 Gene Miles Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (Qld) 13 5 8 0 32 Chris Mortimer Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 9 - 4 0 32 Bryan Niebling Redcliffe Dolphins (Qld) 10 5 2 0 8 Michael O'Connor St George Dragons 14 5 13 59 170 Steve Roach Balmain Tigers 8 1 3 0 12 Dale Shearer Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 13 4 12 0 48 Royce Simmons Penrith Panthers 10 5 1 0 4 Paul Sironen Balmain Tigers 10 1 0 0 0 Peter Sterling (vc) Parramatta Eels 10 5 3 0 12
By Club The touring side was represented by 18 New South Welshmen (N) and 10 Queenslanders (Q).
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (5): Paul Dunn (N), Steve Folkes (N), Terry Lamb (N), Paul Langmack (N), Chris Mortimer (N) Balmain Tigers (4): Ben Elias (N), Garry Jack (N), Steve Roach (N), Paul Sironen (N) Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (4): Noel Cleal (N), Phil Daley (N), Des Halser (N), Dale Shearer (Q) Wynnum-Manly Seagulls (4): Wally Lewis (captain) (Q), Greg Dowling (Q), Bob Lindner (Q), Gene Miles (Q) Canberra Raiders (2): Gary Belcher (Q), Mal Meninga (Q) North Sydney Bears (2): Martin Bella (Q), Les Kiss (Q) Parramatta Eels (2): Peter Sterling (N) (vice-captain), Brett Kenny (N) Penrith Panthers (2): Greg Alexander (N), Royce Simmons (N) Redcliffe Dolphins (1): Bryan Niebling (Q) South Sydney Rabbitohs (1): Les Davidson (N) St George Dragons (1): Michael O'Connor (N)
Papua New Guinea Before flying to England, the Kangaroos played their second ever Test against Papua New Guinea at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby on 4 October. In front of 17,000 fans (still the record attendance for the venue as of 2024), the Wally Lewis led Kangaroos defeated the Kumuls 62–12. Canterbury-Bankstown forward Paul Dunn made his test debut in the 2nd row while easily the biggest player on tour, , Balmain back rower Paul Sironen made his test debut off the bench. This was the first of three test matches on the tour that counted towards the ongoing 1985-1988 Rugby League World Cup
FB 1Dairi KovaeRW 2Joe KatsirRC 3Lauta AtoiLC 4Bal NumapoLW 5Mafu KerekereFE 6Daruis HailiHB 7Tony Kila (c)PR 8Joe TepHK 9Roy HeniPR 10Ati LomutopaSR 11Bobby AkoSR 12Bernard WaketsiLK 13Arebo TaumakuSubstitutions:IC 14Kepi SaeaIC 15Noah AndyCoach: Barry Wilson FB 1 Garry JackLW 2 Michael O'ConnorRC 3 Gene MilesLC 4 Chris MortimerRW 5 Les KissFE 6 Wally Lewis (c)HB 7 Des HaslerPR 8 Steve RoachHK 9 Royce SimmonsPR 10 Bryan NieblingSR 11 Paul DunnSR 12 Noel ClealLF 13 Bob LindnerSubstitutions:IC 14 Mal MeningaIC 15 Paul SironenCoach: Don Furner
Great Britain The Kangaroos played 13 games in England, including the three Ashes tests against Great Britain. Australia kept alive its streak of not having lost to an English club or provincial team since 1978. The English leg of the tour drew a total of 212,068 fans to the 13 games (including the three tests). However Challenge Cup winners Castleford and Premiership winners Warrington despite their trophy successes never got games against the Kangaroos (both would be back on the Kangaroos itinerary in 1990 and 1994) while the Lancashire Cup and John Player Special Trophy winners Wigan, the Yorkshire Cup winners Hull Kingston Rovers, and League Champions Halifax, all got games against the touring Australians.
Test Venues The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.
Manchester Leeds Wigan Old Trafford Elland Road Central Park Capacity: 51,000 Capacity: 32,500 Capacity: 37,000
FB 1Steve HampsonRW 2Dean BellCE 3David StephensonCE 4Joe LydonLW 5Henderson GillSO 6Shaun EdwardsSH 7Mike FordPR 8Graeme West (c)HK 9Martin DermottPR 10Brian CaseSR 11Ian RobertsSR 12Ian PotterLF 13Andy GoodwaySubstitutions:IC 14Nick Du ToitIC 15Rob LouwCoach: Graham Lowe FB 1 Garry JackLW 2 Michael O'ConnorCE 3 Gene MilesCE 4 Brett KennyRW 5 Les KissFE 6 Wally Lewis (c)HB 7 Peter SterlingPR 8 Steve RoachHK 9 Royce SimmonsPR 10 Bryan NieblingSR 11 Paul SironenSR 12 Noel ClealLK 13 Bob LindnerSubstitutions:IC 14 Terry LambIC 15 Les DavidsonCoach: Don Furner
The Kangaroos led 16–2 at half time in front of 30,622 fans (the record for a Wigan vs Australia match on a Kangaroo Tour) in the tour opener at Wigan (10,000 more than would attend the dead rubber 3rd test at the same ground some 6 weeks later). A fightback in the second half by the home side saw them close the game to just 8 points at full time.1986 Kangaroo Tour - Wigan vs Australia (full game)
The attendance at this game (30,622) was the largest crowd the Kangaroos had played in front of in England since 30,604 attended the 3rd Ashes Test at Headingley on the 1978 Kangaroo tour. It was also the highest ever tour game attendance against Wigan beating the 28,554 who attended the match at Central Park between Wigan and the 1948–49 Kangaroos captained by Clive Churchill.
FB 1George Fairbairn (c)RW 2Garry ClarkCE 3John DorahyCE 4Kerry BousteadLW 5David LawsSO 6Mike SmithSH 7Wayne ParkerPR 8Mark BroadhurstHK 9Chris RuddPR 10Asuquo EmaSR 11Andy KellySR 12Des HarrisonLF 13Paul SpeckmanSubstitutions:IC 14Ray SteadIC 15Dave BusbyCoach: Roger Millward FB 1 Gary BelcherLW 2 Chris MortimerCE 3 Gene MilesCE 4 Mal MeningaRW 5 Dale ShearerFE 6 Terry LambHB 7 Des HaslerPR 8 Greg DowlingHK 9 Benny Elias (c)PR 10 Martin BellaSR 11 Steve FolkesSR 12 Paul DunnLK 13 Paul LangmackSubstitutions:IC 14 Greg AlexanderIC 15 Les DavidsonCoach: Don Furner
All of Hull KR's points were scored by Australian's. Former Wests, Manly and Illawarra back John Dorahy kicked 3 goals for the Robins while 1978 and 1982 Kangaroo tourist and 25 test veteran Kerry Boustead scored the only try for the home team with all 10 points coming in the first half. For the Kangaroos, Terry Lamb crossed for 5 of the teams 9 tries. Australian halfback Des Hasler broke his hand in the first half and was replaced by Greg Alexander. Hasler's injury would keep him out of action for a month and he would not return to the field until the 11th game of the tour against Hull F.C. at The Boulevard.
For the match at Craven Park, Kangaroo tour broadcaster Network Ten had to hire extra lighting to bring the lights up to broadcasting standard. It would become a common theme and problem during tour games for Ten with all bar the Ashes tests and the games against Wigan, Leeds and Hull F.C. being played at night at grounds where the lighting was usually not up to broadcast standard.1986 Kangaroo Tour - Hull KR vs Australia (full game)
FB 1Paul GillRW 2David CreasserCE 3Andrew EttingshausenCE 4Mark McGawLW 5Norman FrancisSO 6John HolmesSH 7Andy GascoignePR 8Jeff GrayshonHK 9Bob MorrisPR 10Peter SmithSR 11Phil OwenSR 12Gary PriceLF 13David Heron (c)Substitutions:IC 14Paul MedleyIC 15Trevor SkerrettCoach: Peter Fox FB 1 Garry JackRW 2 Les KissCE 3 Brett KennyCE 4 Gene MilesLW 5 Michael O'ConnorFE 6 Wally Lewis (c)HB 7 Peter SterlingPR 8 Steve RoachHK 9 Royce SimmonsPR 10 Bryan NieblingSR 11 Paul SironenSR 12 Noel ClealLK 13 Bob LindnerSubstitutions:IC 14 Terry LambIC 15 Greg DowlingCoach: Don Furner