Venues
| Sydney | Brisbane | Lismore |
|---|---|---|
| Leichhardt Oval | Lang Park | Oakes Oval |
| Capacity: 23,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 12,000 |
 |  |
| NSWRFL Tooth Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 18 March - 12 August 1981 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Venue(s) | 3 (in 3 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | South Sydney (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Cronulla-Sutherland |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 23 |
The 1981 Tooth Cup was the 8th edition of the NSWRFL Midweek Cup, a NSWRFL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRFL, the BRL, the CRL, the QRL and the NZRL.
16 teams from across Australia and New Zealand played 23 matches in a round-robin format, with teams playing 2 games each. The top 8 teams advanced to a knockout stage, with the matches being held midweek during the premiership season.
| Sydney | Brisbane | Lismore |
|---|---|---|
| Leichhardt Oval | Lang Park | Oakes Oval |
| Capacity: 23,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 12,000 |
| | |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18/03/81 |  Cronulla-Sutherland | 21 |  North Sydney | 5 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 25/03/81 |  South Sydney | 24 |  Parramatta | 17 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 1/04/81 |  Canterbury-Bankstown | 20 |  Eastern Suburbs | 14 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 8/04/81 |  Western Suburbs | 20 |  Penrith | 8 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 15/04/81 |  St George | 29 |  Balmain | 11 | Oakes Oval |
| 22/04/81 |  Manly-Warringah | 51 |  Central Districts | 11 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 29/04/81 |  Newtown | 23 |  Combined Brisbane | 19 | Lang Park |
| 20/05/81 | Manly-Warringah | 24 |  QLD Country | 2 | Lang Park |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/05/81 | St George | 21 | South Sydney | 15 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 13/05/81 | Penrith | 31 | Central Districts | 5 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 27/05/81 | Western Suburbs | 23 |  NSW Country | 14 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 27/05/81 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 19 | Parramatta | 18 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 3/06/81 | Balmain | 21 | Eastern Suburbs | 5 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 10/06/81 | Newtown | 33 | QLD Country | 7 | Lang Park |
| 10/06/81 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 25 | Combined Brisbane | 5 | Lang Park |
| 17/06/81 | North Sydney | 13 | NSW Country | 9 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Club | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manly-Warringah | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 13 | 62 | 4 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 10 | 36 | 4 |
| Newtown | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 26 | 30 | 4 |
| Western Suburbs | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 22 | 21 | 4 |
| St George | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 26 | 24 | 4 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 32 | 7 | 4 |
| Penrith | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 25 | 14 | 2 |
| South Sydney | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 38 | 1 | 2 |
| Balmain | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 34 | -2 | 2 |
| North Sydney | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 30 | -12 | 2 |
| Parramatta | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 43 | -8 | 0 |
| NSW Country | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 36 | -13 | 0 |
| Eastern Suburbs | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 41 | -22 | 0 |
| Combined Brisbane | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 48 | -24 | 0 |
| QLD Country | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 57 | -48 | 0 |
| Central Districts (NZ) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 82 | -66 | 0 |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24/06/81 | Newtown | 22 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 7 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 1/07/81 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 23 | Penrith | 19 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 8/07/81 | Manly-Warringah | 16 | Western Suburbs | 13 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 15/07/81 | South Sydney | 23 | St George | 9 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22/07/81 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 19 | Newtown | 2 | Leichhardt Oval |
| 5/08/81 | South Sydney | 24 | Manly-Warringah | 13 | Leichhardt Oval |
| Date | Winner | Score | Loser | Score | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/08/81 | South Sydney | 10 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 2 | Leichhardt Oval |
The 1981 Tooth Cup Final attracted a still standing (as of 2020) Leichhardt Oval attendance record of 23,000.
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