The 1985 New Zealand rugby league tour was a series of matches played between October and December by the New Zealand national rugby league team in England and France. The team played a three-game series against Great Britain, named the Whitbread Trophy Bitter Tests for sponsorship reasons, and the tied the series 1–1. The team also defeated France 2–0.
Background New Zealand last toured Great Britain in 1980.
Despite tense relations between France and New Zealand over the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, the team went ahead with the French leg of the tour as planned.
Touring party A 24-man touring squad was selected in August 1985, with Mark Graham named as captain. The squad included six players who played in the Australian Winfield Cup competition. New Zealand players contracted to British clubs were not included in the squad, but could still be considered for selection in Test matches.
Graham Lowe was the coach, and Jim Campbell was the team manager.
Prior to the tour, Marty Crequer withdrew from the squad due to injury, and was replaced by Shane Horo. Crequer was later called up as a replacement during the tour for the injured Joe Ropati. Ross Taylor also suffered an injury on tour, and was replaced by Brent Todd.
Name Club/District Eastern Suburbs Auckland Auckland Auckland Canterbury Auckland Eastern Suburbs Auckland West Coast Auckland (c) North Sydney Waikato Eastern Suburbs Waikato Auckland Auckland Canterbury Cronulla-Sutherland Cronulla-Sutherland Wellington Taranaki Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Auckland Auckland
Schedule and results Date Opponents Score (NZ first) Venue Attendance Notes 6 October Wigan align="center" Wigan 13,009 9 October Great Britain under-21 align="center" Bradford 2,285 13 October Hull Kingston Rovers align="center" Hull 6,585 15 October Cumbria align="center" Whitehaven 5,500 19 October align="center" Leeds 12,591 23 October Yorkshire align="center" Bradford 3,745 27 October St Helens align="center" St Helens 7,897 29 October Leeds align="center" Leeds 4,713 2 November align="center" Wigan 15,506 4 November Widnes align="center" Widnes 5,200 9 November align="center" Leeds 22,209 This match counted towards the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup 13 November Lancashire align="center" Oldham Postponed due to a frozen pitch 17 November Hull align="center" Hull 8,500 20 November Invitational XIII align="center" Paris 1,500 24 November align="center" Marseille 1,492 28 November Midi-Pyrenees XIII align="center" Toulouse 3,000 1 December Languedoc/Roussillon XIII align="center" Carcassonne 5,000 7 December align="center" Perpignan 5,000 This match counted towards the 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup 10 December Rest of the World align="center" Narbonne 700 12 December Aquitane/Côte d'Azur align="center" Bordeaux 1,930
Aftermath For the series against Great Britain, the Man of the Series was awarded to Great Britain's John Fieldhouse and Dane Sorensen for New Zealand.
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