List of rugby league tours

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The Baskerville Shield is usually competed for during Lions and Kiwi tours to New Zealand and Great Britain respectively Baskerville Trophy 2.jpg
The Baskerville Shield is usually competed for during Lions and Kiwi tours to New Zealand and Great Britain respectively

Rugby league tours are a series of matches in the sport of rugby league against multiple opponents from one geographic area.

Contents

Numerous tours have occurred throughout history and have been mostly carried out by the top three rugby league nations Australia (Kangaroos), Great Britain (Lions), and New Zealand (Kiwis).

Tours historically consisted of a number of non-test matches against club or composite teams and single-match tests against national sides, before a three-game test series against the national side of the tour's primary destination. These three-game test series were the primary event of the tours and would often be their own competition, the most famous being The Ashes. More modern tours have often skipped non-test matches to play only the "primary event".

While the phrase "traditional era" and "modern era" have no set definition in rugby league and can vary massively depending on the context. No tours of any kind occurred between 2007 (coincidentally 100 years after the first tour) and 2015, the largest time without a tour in peace time. As a result 2015 can be considered the start of the modern era for tours. It was at this time when the majority of tours only saw a three-game test series with a single nation.

Prior to 1954 and the first Rugby League World Cup, tours were the main form of international competition in the sport.

Lions tours

Touring squad of the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand.jpg
Great Britain playing Auckland during their first tour to New Zealand, with their touring squad above Auckland v England, July 23, 1910.png
Great Britain playing Auckland during their first tour to New Zealand, with their touring squad above

Great Britain era


England era

Kangaroo tours

The Kangaroo team during their first tour to Great Britain StateLibQld 2 135267 Australian Rugby League (Kangaroos) who toured to England in 1908-09.jpg
The Kangaroo team during their first tour to Great Britain

Kiwi tours

The Kiwi team that toured Australia in 1925 New Zealand in 1925.png
The Kiwi team that toured Australia in 1925
New Zealand playing third test against Great Britain at the DW Stadium on their 2007 tour to the country Great Britain - New Zealand rugby league test, 2007.jpg
New Zealand playing third test against Great Britain at the DW Stadium on their 2007 tour to the country

Other tours

France

Papua New Guinea

Queensland

South Africa

United States


England Knights

Samoa

Tonga

Women's tours

Women's tours have operated very similar to men's tours, however many women's tours have seen a two-test series instead of the three-test series common with men's tours.

Australia

Great Britain / England

New Zealand

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain national rugby league team</span>

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions.

The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Commission, the Kangaroos are ranked first in the IRL Men's World Rankings. The team is the most successful in Rugby League World Cup history, having won the competition 12 times, and contested 15 of the 16 finals, only failing to reach the final in the 1954 inaugural tournament. Only five nations have beaten Australia in test matches, and Australia has an overall win percentage of 69%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand national rugby league team</span> Sports team representing New Zealand

The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. The team's colours are black and white, with the dominant colour being black, and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis are currently second in the IRL World Rankings. Since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that, players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papua New Guinea national rugby league team</span> National rugby team

The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonga national rugby league team</span>

The Tonga national rugby league team represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the fifth ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, and have competed at six Rugby League World Cups, starting in 1995 and continuing consecutively until the most recent tournament. Their best result was at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, where they were semi-finalists.

Women's rugby league is the female-only version of rugby league.

The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name.

The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Rugby League Four Nations</span>

The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France.

The New Zealand women's national rugby league team, also known as the Kiwi Ferns or New Zealand Kiwi Ferns, represents New Zealand in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the New Zealand Rugby League.

The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league. They played their first formal international in 1995 under the administration of the Australian Women's Rugby League. The AWRL affiliated with the Australian Rugby League in the late 1990s, with AWRL reports included in ARL annual reports. Since the advent of the Australian Rugby League Commission in February 2012, the team has been administered by that body and the National Rugby League.

The Great Britain women's national rugby league team, also known as the Great Britain Lionesses, represents Great Britain in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Rugby Football League. The Great Britain Lionesses have placed third in every Women's Rugby League World Cup in which they have competed. In 2006, the RFL announced that after the 2007 All Golds Tour the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, and that players would be able to represent England, Wales and Scotland at Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together in future only for occasional tours, same as the Great Britain Lions.

The England women's national Rugby League team represents England in Women's Rugby League. They are administered by the Rugby Football League. As Great Britain, they toured Australia in 1996, New Zealand in 1998, and reached the first-ever Women's Rugby League World Cup final in 2000, where they lost 26–4 to New Zealand.

The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydney, with the final held at Brisbane Stadium. The final was played as a double-header with the men's final.

This is a list of international rugby league matches played throughout 2016. A † denotes a recognised, but unofficial match that did not contribute to the IRL World Rankings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Anzac Test</span>

The 2016 Anzac Test was a rugby league test match played between Australia and New Zealand at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle. It was the 17th Anzac Test played between the two nations since the first was played under the Super League banner in 1997.

The 2019 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team to the Southern Hemisphere in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Oceania Cup (rugby league)</span>

The 2019 Oceania Cup was the inaugural edition of the Oceania Cup. Contested by six teams, the competition began in June and concluded in November.

The Rugby League Pacific Championship is a rugby league tournament for national teams in Oceania. Its inaugural tournament was in 2019. Of the seven Oceanian teams, six compete across two divisions of three teams, while a rotating seventh goes on tour.

The 2023 Rugby League Pacific Championships was the second edition of the Rugby League Pacific Championship and the first under its current name. The championship included a collection of international rugby league tournaments to be played from October to November 2023 between nations located in the Pacific region.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Southern hemisphere to host 2026 World Cup". BBC Sport. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  2. "England Knights to tour Papua New Guinea". 18 May 2018.
  3. https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62852/england-to-play-samoa-in-autumn-test-series-
  4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/articles/cxww982v9xro.amp
  5. "England to host Tonga in maiden Test series". BBC Sport. 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  6. "England to host Tonga in three-match Test series". National Rugby League. 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.