1954 Rugby League World Cup

1954 Rugby League World Cup
Tournament details
Host nation	France
Dates	30 October – 13 November
No. of nations	4 (reduced from 5)
Final positions
Champions	Great Britain (1st title)
Runner-up	France
Third place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	7
Attendance	138,329 (19,761 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jimmy Ledgard (29)
Most tries	Gordon Brown (6)
	1957 →

Last updated November 04, 2024

The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league's first World Cup and was held between 30 October and 13 November and hosted by France^[1] and was won by Great Britain who beat France in the final at the Parc des Princes in Paris.^[2] As it was the first official World Cup of either rugby code it was officially known as the Rugby World Cup.^[3]

The first Rugby League World Cup was an unqualified success. It was played in a uniformly good spirit, provided an excellent standard of play and was a fitting celebration of France's 20th anniversary as a rugby league-playing nation. The trophy, which was donated by the French, was worth eight million francs.^[4]

Background

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the Rugby League World Cup trophy himself,^[5] they had been campaigning for such a tournament since before the Second World War.

The uncertainty of the ultimate outcome was of particular interest. In the early 1950s all four competing nations were quite capable of beating each other – no test series in the period was a foregone conclusion.

If there were a favourite it was Australia who had just won back the Ashes. However, in 1953 they had lost series to both the French and the Kiwis, while Great Britain had defeated New Zealand on the second half of their 1954 Australasian tour.

The form book merely provided a conundrum which was made more confusing when the British were forced, through injuries and players making themselves unavailable, to select a raw and largely untried squad which was given little credibility by the cynics.

The captains for this historic event were Puig-Aubert (France), Cyril Eastlake (New Zealand), Clive Churchill (Australia) and Dave Valentine (Britain). The referees were Warrington's Charlie Appleton and Rene Guidicelli (Perpignan).

Participants

Five teams were invited to participate in the first World Cup; Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States along with hosts, France.^[6] There were concerns around the United States participation. The American All Stars who had toured Australia and New Zealand and drawn big crowds in 1953 but were heavily beaten in all their games as well as being beaten 31–0 by France in 1954.^[7] This led to doubts around whether an American team would be competitive enough to compete with the United States withdrawing from the tournament. It had been suggested that Wales could replace the United States but were not invited as Great Britain were already participating.^[8]

North America (0)

~~United States~~ (withdrew)

Europe (2)

France (hosts)
Great Britain

Oceania (2)

Venues

The games were played at various venues in France with the Final played at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Marseille	Paris	Toulouse	Lyon
Stade Vélodrome	Parc des Princes	Stadium de Toulouse	Stade de Gerland
Capacity: 49,000	Capacity: 38,000	Capacity: 37,000	Capacity: 30,000

Paris Marseille Toulouse Lyon Bordeaux Nantes 1954 Rugby League World Cup (France)		Bordeaux
		Stade Chaban-Delmas
		Capacity: 30,000

		Nantes
		Stade Marcel-Saupin
		Capacity: 20,000

Group stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Great Britain	3	2	1	0	67	32	+35	5	Advance to the Final
2	France	3	2	1	0	50	31	+19	5	Advance to the Final
3	Australia	3	1	0	2	52	58	−6	2
4	New Zealand	3	0	0	3	34	82	−48	0

Updated to match(es) played on 11 November 1954. Source: RugbyLeagueProject
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) point difference; 3) number of points scored


30 October	France	22–13	New Zealand	Parc des Princes, Paris


31 October	Australia	13–28	Great Britain	Stade de Gerland, Lyon


7 November	Australia	34–15	New Zealand	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille


7 November	France	13–13	Great Britain	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse


11 November	France	15–5	Australia	Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes


11 November	Great Britain	26–6	New Zealand	Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux

Final

The 1954 Rugby League World Cup final was the conclusive game of the 1954 Rugby League World Cup tournament and was played between France and Great Britain on November 13, 1954, at Parc des Princes, Paris, France.

13 November

France	12–16	Great Britain
Tries: Raymond Contrastin Vincent Cantoni Goals: Puig Aubert (3)	Report	Tries: Gerry Helme Gordon Brown (2) David Rose Goals: Jimmy Ledgard (2)

Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance: 30,368
Referee: Charles Appleton (England)
Player of the Match: Don Robinson (Great Britain)

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References

↑ 1954 World Cup Archived 13 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at rugbyleagueplanet.com
↑ 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.org
↑ SPARC, 2009: 28
↑ RLIF. "Past Winners: 1954". Rugby League International Federation. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
↑ "1954 World Cup". 188 Rugby League. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. at 188-rugby-league.co.uk
↑ AAP (19 January 1953). "World Cup Suggestion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 25 December 2009.
↑ "France vs. United States of America". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
↑ Ferguson, Andrew. "The French Barriere That Wouldn't Break" (PDF). MenofLeague. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

General

Independent Review Committee (February 2009). "Rugby League – Contributing to New Zealand's Future" (PDF). New Zealand: SPARC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2009.

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[1] 1954 World Cup Archived 13 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine at rugbyleagueplanet.com

[2] 1954 World Cup at rugbyleagueproject.org

[SPARC-2009-p28-3] SPARC, 2009: 28

[RLIF1-4] RLIF. "Past Winners: 1954". Rugby League International Federation. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.

[5] "1954 World Cup". 188 Rugby League. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. at 188-rugby-league.co.uk

[6] AAP (19 January 1953). "World Cup Suggestion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 25 December 2009.

[7] "France vs. United States of America". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

[8] Ferguson, Andrew. "The French Barriere That Wouldn't Break" (PDF). MenofLeague. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

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