1975 Rugby League World Cup

The 1975 Rugby League World Cup (officially known as the 1975 Rugby League World Championship) was the seventh World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams and ran from 2 March to 12 November. Australia were the winners for a fourth time after topping the group table.

Unlike previous World Cups, there was no one host country, with the five participating nations hosting matches over eight months. Each team had to play the others on a 'home and away' basis. For the first time Great Britain did not compete and instead England and Wales entered to participate for the first time, taking advantage of a glut of Welsh talent in the British game at the time.

Teams

Venues

14 venues across the five competing countries hosted games of the 1975 Rugby League World Cup. Wales used their own home venue at Swansea, but also played home games in England in both Salford and Warrington. England also played a 'home' game against Wales at Lang Park in Brisbane, Australia.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Sydney

! Marseille

! Brisbane

! Bradford

! Wigan

| Sydney Cricket Ground

| Stade Vélodrome

| Lang Park

| Odsal Stadium

| Central Park

| Capacity: 70,000

| Capacity: 49,000

| Capacity: 40,000

| 200px

! Toulouse

! Leeds

! Bordeaux

! Auckland

! Salford

| Stadium Municipal

| Headingley

| Stade du Parc Lescure

| Carlaw Park

| The Willows

| Capacity: 35,000

| Capacity: 32,000

| Capacity: 30,000

| Capacity: 20,000

| Capacity: 17,000

| 200px

! Swansea

! Christchurch

! Warrington

! Perpignan

| St Helen's Rugby Ground

| Addington Showgrounds

| Wilderspool Stadium

| Stade Gilbert Brutus

| Capacity: 15,000

| Capacity: 13,000

| 200px

|}</div>

Warm-up games

The teams arranged a number of warm-up games against local opposition during the World Championship, detailed below.

England

{|class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponents

! Score

! Venue

! Attendance

| 1 June || Western Australia || style="text-align: center;" || Perth || style="text-align: center;" | 6,000

| 7 June || Toowoomba ||style="text-align: center;" || Toowoomba || style="text-align: center;" | 3,000

| 15 June || Southern Division (NSW) || style="text-align: center;" || Gosforth || style="text-align: center;" | 3,000

| 18 June || North Island (NZ) || style="text-align: center;" || Huntly || style="text-align: center;" | 2,490

| 29 June || Illawarra || style="text-align: center;" || Wollongong || style="text-align: center;" | 4,000

| 2 July || Brisbane || style="text-align: center;" || Brisbane || style="text-align: center;" | 9,000

| 6 July || Papua New Guinea || style="text-align: center;" || Port Moresby || style="text-align: center;" | 12,000

Wales

{|class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponents

! Score

! Venue

! Attendance

| 5 June || Ipswich || style="text-align: center;" || Ipswich || style="text-align: center;" | 4,000

| 18 June || Wellington || style="text-align: center;" || Greymouth || style="text-align: center;" | 2,000

| 24 June || Canterbury || style="text-align: center;" || Christchurch || style="text-align: center;" | 2,500

| 1 July || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" | 12,000

| 3 July || New Zealand Māori || style="text-align: center;" || Rotorua || style="text-align: center;" | 2,500

France

{|class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponents

! Score

! Venue

! Attendance

| 12 June || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" | 10,000

| 22 June || Wide Bay ||style="text-align: center;" || Bundaberg || style="text-align: center;" | 4,000

| 25 June || Lithgow-Oberon || style="text-align: center;" || Lithgow || style="text-align: center;" | 1,360

| 27 June || NSW Group 6 || style="text-align: center;" || Campbelltown || style="text-align: center;" | 2,600

| 29 June || Monaro || style="text-align: center;" || Queanbeyan || style="text-align: center;" | 5,700

Australia

{|class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponents

! Score

! Venue

! Attendance

| 30 September || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" || Auckland || style="text-align: center;" | 7,251

| 10 October || Salford || style="text-align: center;" || Salford || style="text-align: center;" | 5,357

| 12 October || St Helens ||style="text-align: center;" || St Helens || style="text-align: center;" | 10,170

| 23 October || Rouergue XIII || style="text-align: center;" || Albi || style="text-align: center;" | 2,000

| 4 November || Oldham || style="text-align: center;" || Oldham || style="text-align: center;" | 3,575

| 9 November || York ||style="text-align: center;" || York || style="text-align: center;" | 4,082

New Zealand

{|class="wikitable"

! Date

! Opponents

! Score

! Venue

! Attendance

| 15 May || North Queensland Firsts || style="text-align: center;" || Townsville || style="text-align: center;" |

| 18 May || Central Queensland || style="text-align: center;" || Rockhampton || style="text-align: center;" |

| 21 May || Northern Division || style="text-align: center;" || Tamworth || style="text-align: center;" |

| 24 May || NSW Country Firsts || style="text-align: center;" || Newcastle || style="text-align: center;" | 6,000

| 27 May || North Coast || style="text-align: center;" || Tweed Heads || style="text-align: center;" |

| 1 November || South West France || style="text-align: center;" || || style="text-align: center;" |

| 4 November || Barrow || style="text-align: center;" || Barrow-in-Furness || style="text-align: center;" |

| 9 November || Keighley ||style="text-align: center;" || Keighley || style="text-align: center;" |

Results

In this match Mick Cronin kicked nine goals.

England winger Keith Fielding created a new record by scoring four tries against a hapless French team at Bordeaux.

Kangaroo wing prodigy Ian Schubert also scored a hat-trick tries.

English stand-off Ken Gill ran in three tries.

In this match Jim Mills, the Wales prop, was banned for the rest of the season after an altercation. The ban was eventually lifted on 2 January 1976.

Final standings

Final challenge match

As Australia had not beaten England to win the World Cup (a draw and a loss), a one off challenge match was arranged, although this was not officially classed as a Final as Australia had already been crowned Champions after topping the group.

The Kangaroos showed they were worthy World Champions with a comprehensive 25–0 win at Headingley in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,680 which was over 11,000 less than had attended the 1970 World Cup final, between Great Britain and Australia, at the same venue. England had shown little interest in playing the game.

Try scorers

Ian Schubert
Keith Fielding

Mick Cronin

Bob Fulton
Ken Gill
John Holmes
Bill Francis

Mark Harris
Graeme Langlands
John Peard
Terry Randall
Ged Dunn
Eric Hughes
Bob Jarvis
Phillip Orchard

Ray Higgs
John Lang
Lew Platz
Tommy Raudonikis
Steve Rogers
Patrick Chauvet
George Fairbairn
Tony Gordon
Ken Stirling
Dennis Williams
Peter Banner
John Bevan
David Willicombe

Ray Branighan
Graham Eadie
Tim Pickup
John Quayle
Johnny Rhodes
John Atkinson
Colin Forsyth
Jeff Grayshon
Brian Hogan
Thomas Martyn
Roger Millward
Mick Morgan
Steve Norton
Stuart Wright
Bernard Curt
René Terrats
Tony Coll
Tom Conroy
Murray Eade
John Greengrass
Lyndsay Proctor
John Smith
John Whittaker
Kel Coslett
Tony Fisher
Brian Gregory
John Mantle
Jim Mills
Clive Sullivan
David Treasure
Frank Wilson

References

External links

1975 World Cup at rlhalloffame.org.uk
1975 World Cup at rlwc2008.com
1975 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.com
1975 World Cup data at hunterlink.net.au