1972 Rugby League World Cup

Last updated

1972 World Cup
Number of teams4
Host countryFlag of France.svg France
WinnerFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain (3rd title)
Matches played7
Attendance62,456 (8,922 per match)
Points scored240 (34.29 per match)
Top scorer Flag of the United Kingdom.svg John Holmes (26)
Top try scorer Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bob Fulton (5)
Tournaments
 < 1970
1975 > 

The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their home soil. In the event Great Britain confounded most expectations by running out worthy winners[ citation needed ] and levelling their tally of World Cup wins at 3–3 with the Australians.

Contents

The final was held at Stade Gerland in Lyon. Great Britain played Australia and in the end, with scores level and unchanged after extra time, claimed the cup on league placing.

This was the last World Cup to be played under the four-tackle rule.

Squads

Venues

Marseille Paris Toulouse
Stade Vélodrome Parc des Princes Stadium Municipal
Capacity: 55,000Capacity: 48,712Capacity: 37,000
Marseille - vue generale du terrain, de la piste et des gradins du stade vers le massif de Marseilleveyre.tif Paris-Parc-des-Princes.jpg Stadium de Toulouse.jpg
Perpignan Pau Grenoble
Stade Gilbert Brutus Stade du Hameau Stade Lesdiguières
Capacity: 13,000Capacity: 12,000Capacity: 12,000
Tribune Guasch Laborde.JPG
Stade du Hameau - Pau Stade du Hameau Pau.jpg
Stade du Hameau - Pau
 Tribune lienard.jpg

Final Venue

Lyon
Stade de Gerland
Capacity: 45,000
Stade pour les sports athletiques de la Mouche-15PH1-657.jpg

Results

Group stage

TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPtsQualification
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 33009344+496Advances to the Final
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 32016141+204
Flag of France.svg  France 31023353−202
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 30033382−490
Source: [ citation needed ]
28 October 1972 France  Flag of France.svg 20 – 9 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
29 October 1972 Great Britain  Flag of the United Kingdom.svg 27 – 21 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpingnan
1 November 1972 France  Flag of France.svg 4 – 13 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble
1 November 1972 Australia  Flag of Australia (converted).svg 9 – 5 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Parc des Princes, Paris
4 November 1972 Great Britain  Flag of the United Kingdom.svg 53 – 19 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Stade du Hameau, Pau
5 November 1972 France  Flag of France.svg 9 – 31 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Stadium Municipal, Toulouse

Final

11 November 1972
Great Britain  Flag of the United Kingdom.svg10–10
(AET)		Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Tries:
Clive Sullivan
Mike Stephenson
Goals:
Terry Clawson (2)		 [1]
Tries:
John O'Neill
Arthur Beetson
Goals:
Ray Branighan (2)
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
Attendance: 4,231
Referee: Georges Jameau Flag of France.svg
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body GBR1.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
Great Britain
Kit left arm kangaroos.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body kangaroos1992.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm kangaroos.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts thingoldsides.png
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks hoops gold.png
Kit socks long.svg
Australia
FB1 Paul Charlton
RW2 Clive Sullivan (c)
RC3 Chris Hesketh
LC4 John Walsh
LW5 John Atkinson
SO6 John Holmes
SH7 Steve Nash
PR8 Terry Clawson
HK9 Mike Stephenson
PR10 David Jeanes
SR11 Phil Lowe
SR12 Brian Lockwood
LF13 George Nicholls
Substitutions:
IC14 Bob Irving
IC15
Coach:
Flag of England.svg Jim Challinor
FB1 Graeme Langlands (c)
RW2 John Grant
RC3 Mark Harris
LC4 Geoff Starling
LW5 Ray Branighan
FE6 Bob Fulton
HB7 Dennis Ward
PR8 John O'Neill
HK9 Elwyn Walters
PR10 Bob O'Reilly
SR11 Arthur Beetson
SR12 Gary Stevens
LK13 Gary Sullivan
Substitutions:
IC14 Fred Jones
IC15
Coach:
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Harry Bath

The French public seemed uninterested in a final that did not involve the home team, as just over 4,200 spectators turned up. The game will always be remembered by the British for their captain Clive Sullivan's wonderful long distance try [2] [3] and by the Australians for perhaps "the greatest try never scored", [4] later shown on TV to be legitimately scored by Australian fullback Graeme Langlands but disallowed by French referee Georges Jameau. [5] Mike Stephenson scored the 73rd-minute try that helped Great Britain level the scores and secure the World Cup. [6] Had Aussie winger Ray Branighan succeeded with a 79th-minute penalty or Bob Fulton landed one of three drop goal attempts in the last five minutes, the cup could easily have gone to Australia. But for the first time in the competition's history the scores were level at full-time. An additional twenty minutes extra time was played, but no further score resulted, and Great Britain were awarded the cup by virtue of a better position in the table.

Try scorers

5
4
3
2
1

Tour games

After the World Championship, Australia and New Zealand arranged short three-game tours against English clubs.

Australia

DateOpponentsScoreVenueAttendance [7]
15 November St Helens Won 24–9 St Helens 9,311
17 November Wigan Drew 18–18 Wigan 6,300
19 November Bradford Northern Won 29–16 Bradford 2,820

New Zealand

DateOpponentsScoreVenueAttendance [8]
15 November Leeds Lost 6–11 Leeds
17 November Huddersfield Won 32–2 Huddersfield
19 November Salford Lost 4–50 [9] Salford

References

  1. ↑ Report
  2. ↑ Wright, J (23 August 2007). "Rugby League's Greatest Ever Full-back". Times & Star. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Paddy McAteer (22 December 2010) "Whole World in their Hands" Archived 5 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine North West Evening Mail
  4. ↑ Kdouh, Fatima (28 November 2013). "We take a look back at the greatest Rugby League World Cup finals of all time". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ↑ Chesterton, Ray (24 October 2008). "Langlands denied greatest try ever". The Daily Telegraph . Australia: News Limited . Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  6. ↑ Hughes, Ed (31 October 2004). "Caught in Time: Great Britain prepare for 1972 rugby league World Cup final". The Sunday Times . UK: Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 18 October 2010.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Kangaroos World Cup Tour 1972". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "Kiwis World Cup Tour 1972". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Kiwis were too bad to be true". The Press . Christchurch. 21 November 1972. p. 30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.