1963–64 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

The 1963-64 Kangaroo tour was the eleventh Kangaroo tour, during which the Australian national rugby league team traveled to Europe and played thirty-six matches against British and French club and representative teams. It included three Test matches against Great Britain for The Ashes, and three Tests against the French. The tour followed the 1959-60 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France and was followed by the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France.

The squad's leadership The Australian team was captain-coached by Western Suburbs Magpies Arthur Summons, though due to injury to Summons the test captaincy fell to St George Ian Walsh for Ashes series against Great Britain and the first test against France. In the five matches in which neither Summons nor Walsh played, the Kangaroos were captained by Barry Muir (against Featherstone), Ken Irvine (Rochdale), Noel Kelly (Cumberland), Reg Gasnier (Pyrenees) and Brian Hambly (Les Espoirs (French Colts)). The team was managed by Jack Lynch and Arthur Sparkes.

Touring squad The Rugby League News published details of the touring team including each player's ages, weight, height and occupation. Match details - listing surnames of both teams and the point scorers - were included in E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook, as was a summary of the players' point-scoring. John Cleary, Ken Day, Peter Gallagher, John Gleeson and Barry Muir were selected from Queensland clubs. Earl Harrison, Paul Quinn and Barry Rushworth were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1963 season.

Player Age Weightst.lb (kg) Club TestsonTour Games Tries Goals FG Points John Cleary 24 15.7 (98) Ipswich Brothers 0 14 1 0 0 3 Michael Cleary 23 12.13 (82) South Sydney 1 21 14 0 0 42 Ken Day 27 15.0 (95) Brisbane Western Suburbs 2 18 5 0 0 15 Peter Dimond 24 14.7 (92) Western Suburbs 6 24 16 0 0 48 Peter Gallagher 26 15.6 (98) Brisbane Brothers 3 21 2 0 0 6 Reg Gasnier 24 12.12 (82) St George 6 19 15 0 0 45 John Gleeson 22 11.10 (74) Brisbane Brothers 0 9 3 0 0 9 Brian Hambly , 25 15.3 (97) Parramatta 5 24 2 12 0 30 Earl Harrison 22 12.7 (79) Gilgandra 4 17 3 0 0 9 Ken Irvine 23 12.0 (76) North Sydney 5 27 29 2 0 91 Les Johns 21 11.11 (75) Canterbury 0 14 3 28 1 67 Noel Kelly , 26 14.0 (89) Western Suburbs 6 23 2 0 0 6 Graeme Langlands 21 13.0 (83) St George 5 25 17 78 0 207 Jim Lisle 23 12.3 (78) South Sydney 0 13 2 0 0 6 Barry Muir 25 11.6 (73) Brisbane Western Suburbs 6 20 5 0 0 15 Paul Quinn 25 14.10 (93) Gerringong 3 20 1 0 0 3 Johnny Raper 24 13.9 (87) St George 5 18 2 0 0 6 Barry Rushworth 20 12.2 (77) Lithgow Workmen 1 19 9 0 0 27 Kevin Ryan 28 14.10 (93) St George 0 4 0 0 0 0 Kevin Smyth 29 13.0 (83) Western Suburbs 2 18 4 0 0 12 Frank Stanton Utility Back 23 11.6 (73) Manly-Warringah 0 18 4 0 0 12 Arthur Summons , 27 11.0 (70) Western Suburbs 2 17 5 0 0 15 Ken Thornett 25 13.9 (87) Parramatta 6 16 3 0 0 9 Dick Thornett , 22 16.0 (102) Parramatta 4 22 6 0 0 18 Ian Walsh 28 13.4 (84) St George 4 18 1 0 0 3 Graham Wilson , 23 14.12 (94) Newtown 2 18 1 0 0 3

Great Britain The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 65,286 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 50-12 second test win over Great Britain at Station Road in Swinton with 30,843 in attendance. The largest non-test attendance of the tour was 21,284 when the Kangaroos defeated St. Helens at Knowsley Road.

Test venues The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.

London Swinton Leeds Wembley Stadium Station Road Headingley Capacity: 100,000 Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 35,000

The Ashes series

First Test The first Ashes series test was played at the famous Wembley Stadium in London. Reg Gasnier ran in 3 of the Kangaroos 6 tries while his St George team mate and centre partner Graeme Langlands kicked 5 goals and crossed for his own try. In front of a small crowd of only 13,946 (in a stadium which at the time could hold up to 100,000 and earlier in the year had seen a crowd of 84,488 for the Challenge Cup Final), the Kangaroos kept the Lions scoreless with Neil Fox's lone goal the only score for the home side as Australia won 28-2.

Great BritainPositionAustraliaKen GowersFBKen ThornettBill BurgessWGKen IrvineEric Ashton (c)CEReg GasnierNeil FoxCEGraeme LanglandsNorman FieldWGPeter DimondDave BoltonSOEarl HarrisonAlex MurphySHBarry MuirJohn TembeyPRPeter GallagherBill SayerHKIan Walsh (c)Brian TysonPRNoel KellyJim MeasuresSRBrian HamblyKen BowmanSRDick ThornettVince KaraliusLFJohnny Raper CoachArthur Summons

Second Test The second test at Station Road in Swinton has gone down in rugby league folklore as the "Swinton Massacre". The Kangaroos ran riot, crossing for 12 tries to just 2 from the Lions. The 50-12 win was not only the Kangaroos highest ever score against Great Britain, it also saw Australia win The Ashes in England for the first time since 1911–12 and the first time an all-Australian team (the 1911–12 squad included New Zealand players) had won The Ashes in England. British fans got a taste of Ken Irvine's legendary speed when he crossed for three long range tries while Reg Gasnier, Peter Dimond and Graeme Langlands all crossed for doubles with Langlands also kicking 7 goals for a personal tally of 20 points. Though on this day there was none better than Kangaroos lock forward Johnny Raper who while not scoring himself, had a hand in 9 of his teams 12 tries.Great Britain vs Australia, Second Test 1963

Great BritainPositionAustraliaKen GowersFBKen ThornettMick SullivanWGKen IrvineEric Ashton (c)CEReg GasnierNeil FoxCEGraeme LanglandsJohn StopfordWGPeter DimondFrank MylerSOEarl HarrisonAlex MurphySHBarry MuirBill RobinsonPRPaul QuinnLen McIntyreHKIan Walsh (c)Cliff WatsonPRNoel KellyJim MeasuresSRKen DayRon MorganSRDick ThornettVince KaraliusLFJohnny Raper CoachArthur Summons

Third Test With pride on the line as no England or Great Britain team had ever lost a home series 3-0 to Australia, The Lions put in a much improved performance at Headingley in Leeds. The Rugby Football League had appointed "Sergeant Major" Eric Clay as the referee for the game. The two sides set about settling scores and the Australians felt Clay was biased. It is considered was one of the most brutal Tests ever played, with two Australians (Barry Muir and Brian Hambly) and one British player (Cliff Watson) being sent off. Muir who was sent off (for kicking) later told that he first told Clay "where to go" as he left the field, and later approached Clay after the game and said to him "You robbed us". According to Muir, Clay reportedly responded with "Barry, I've got to live here".Australia @ Rugby League Project

Ken Irvine, who scored Australia's only try for the match, repeated his efforts from the 1962 Ashes series by scoring a try in each test of an Ashes series.

Great BritainPositionAustralia Ken GowersFB Ken Thornett2. Geoff SmithWG3. Ken Irvine3. Keith HoldenCE7. Reg Gasnier4. Alan BuckleyCE4. Graeme Langlands5. John StopfordWG5. Peter Dimond6. Dave BoltonSO11. Earl Harrison7. Tommy Smales (c)SH14.Barry Muir8. Frank CollierPR26. Noel Kelly9. Johnny WardHK25. Ian Walsh (c)10. Cliff WatsonPR21. Paul Quinn11. Dick HuddartSR20. Brian Hambly12. Ken RobertsSR18. Dick Thornett13. Don FoxLF15. Johnny Raper CoachArthur Summons

France The Rugby League News published a list of match results in a February 1964 special issue.

| 4,261

|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | 4 January 1964 | South France | 11 – 51

| 889

|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | 12 January 1964 | Roanne XIII | 2 – 38

| 2,969

|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | 16 January 1964 | Les Espoirs (Colts) | 12 – 19

| 2,617

French Tests

First test Although Ken Irvine was unavailable due to injury, The Kangaroos lost nothing with pace on the wing due to the selection of South Sydney flyer and dual-rugby international Michael Cleary who 12 months earlier had won the Bronze Medal in the 100 yards sprint at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. However it wasn't enough as the tourists were defeated 8-5 by a determined French.

FrancePositionAustraliaAndré CarrèreFBKen ThornettJean EtcheberryWGMichael ClearyBernard FabreCEGraeme LanglandsClaude MantoulanCEReg GasnierLaurent RoldosWGPeter DimondJean VilleneuveSOEarl HarrisonGeorges Fages (c)SHBarry MuirLaurent FalettiPRNoel KellyJean GracietHKIan Walsh (c)Jean PannoPRPaul QuinnHenri MarracqSRBrian HamblyGeorges AilleresSRDick ThornettAndré LacazeLFJohnny RaperJean CapdouzeInt.| CoachArthur Summons

Second Test

FrancePositionAustraliaAndré CarrèreFBKen ThornettJean EtcheberryWGKen IrvineBernard FabreCEGraeme LanglandsClaude MantoulanCEReg GasnierLaurent RoldosWGPeter DimondJean VilleneuveSOArthur Summons (c)Georges Fages (c)SHBarry MuirLaurent FalettiPRJean GracietHKNoel KellyJean PannoPRPeter GallagherHenri MarracqSRKevin SmythGeorges AilleresSRDick ThornettAndré LacazeLFJohnny Raper CoachArthur Summons

Third Test

FrancePositionAustraliaAndré CarrèreFBKen ThornettLaurent RoldosWGKen IrvineBernard FabreCEReg GasnierGilbert BenausseCEBarry RushworthDaniel PellerinWGPeter DimondJean VilleneuveSOArthur Summons (c)Louis VergéSHBarry MuirLaurent FalettiPRBrian HamblyJean GracietHKNoel KellyJean PannoPRPeter GallagherHervé LarrueSRGraham WilsonHenri MarracqSRKen DayJean BartheLFKevin Smyth CoachArthur Summons

References

External links 1963-64 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project

1963–64 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France

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