David Watkins was a Welsh dual-code rugby international, having played both rugby union and rugby league football for both codes' national teams between 1963 and 1979. He captained the British and Irish Lions rugby union side, and made six appearances for the Great Britain rugby league team. With the Wales national rugby league team he played in every match of the 1975 World Cup, and with English club Salford he played more than 400 games over 12 seasons.
The Ashes series, similar to the cricket series of the same name, was a best-of-three series of test matches between Australia and Great Britain national rugby league football teams. It had been contested 39 times from 1908 until 2003 largely with hosting rights alternating between the two countries. Since 1973, Australia has won a record thirteen consecutive Ashes series.
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%.
Malcolm Norman Meninga is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking centre. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of Australian national team.
Cuthwyn Ellery Hanley is an English former rugby league player and coach. Over a nineteen-year professional career (1978–1997), he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Leeds. He won 36 caps for Great Britain, captaining the team from 1988 to 1992, and 2 for England. Nicknamed 'Mr Magic' and 'The Black Pearl', he played most often as a stand-off or loose forward after starting out as a centre or wing.
Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known simply as Swinton RLFC.
Kenneth John Irvine, also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a first-grade career – 212. No other player has yet managed 200 tries in their Australian club career, with the closest to Irvine's tally being South Sydney Rabbitohs player Alex Johnston who has scored 195 tries. He is also the 2nd all-time top try-scorer for the Australian national team with 33, two behind Darren Lockyer's 35. Irvine's great speed is legendary and he is regarded as Australia's greatest ever winger, being named in 2008 in the list of Australian rugby league's 100 greatest players, as well as being an automatic selection for the Australian Rugby League's "Team of the Century".
Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE,, also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played from the 1950s till the 1970s and coached in the 1970s.
The 1994 Kangaroo Tour was the 18th and last Kangaroo Tour played in the conventional format, where the Australia national rugby league team played a number of matches against British and French clubs or provincial outfits, in additions to the Test matches. The outbreak of the Super League war in early 1995 meant that the next Kangaroo tour, set for 1998, never eventuated; although shortened, test only tours were staged in 2001 and 2003.
Malcolm John Reilly OBE is an English former rugby league player and coach. He played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Yorkshire, and at club level for Castleford in England, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Australia, as a loose forward,
Andrew Gregory is an English former professional rugby league footballer. A Great Britain international representative scrum-half, he is an inductee of the Wigan Hall of Fame. He was the first player to win five Challenge Cup Final winners medals, first player to play in eight Challenge Cup finals and one of only two players to have played in six Ashes series against Australia, the other being Garry Schofield.
Michael John "Mick" Hancock is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative wing, he played in the Brisbane Broncos' first five Grand Final victories in 1992, 1993, 1997 Super League, 1998 and 2000. At the time of his retirement from football in Australia in 2000 he held the Broncos' club records for most career appearances. He played out the rest of his career in England with the Salford City Reds and retired in 2002.
Martin Hodgson was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Lauded as one of the game's greatest ever second-rows, he represented Great Britain, England and Cumberland on many occasions. Hodgson played his entire club career with Swinton with whom he won two Championships. He toured Australasia in 1932 and 1936 with the Great Britain lions, and became the only British forward to appear in five Ashes-winning squads, between 1929 and 1937.
The 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the sixteenth Kangaroo tour in which the Australian national rugby league team plays a number of tour matches against British and French teams, in addition to the Test matches. The next Kangaroo tour was staged in 1990.
Derek Turner, also known by the nickname of "Rocky", was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England, Yorkshire and Great Britain & France, and at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity (captain), with whom he won three Challenge Cup Finals, as a second-row, or more usually loose forward, and coached at club level for Castleford, Leeds and Wakefield Trinity.
The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length undertaken by the Great Britain team, and included a test match against Papua New Guinea, a three-test series against Australia for The Ashes, and a two-test series against New Zealand for the Baskerville Shield, all interspersed with matches against local club and representative teams.
The 1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the twelfth Kangaroo Tour, and saw the Australian national rugby league team travel to Europe and play twenty-one matches against British and French club and representative rugby league teams, in addition to three Test matches against Great Britain and three Tests against the French. It followed the tour of 1963-64 and the next was staged in 1973.
The 1963-64 Kangaroo tour was the eleventh Kangaroo tour, during which the Australian national rugby league team traveled to Europe and played thirty-six matches against British and French club and representative teams. It included three Test matches against Great Britain for The Ashes, and three Tests against the French. The tour followed the 1959-60 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France and was followed by the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France.
The 1959–60 Kangaroo tour was the tenth Kangaroo tour, in which the Australian national rugby league team traveled to Europe and played thirty-seven matches against British, French and Italian teams, including the Ashes series of three Test matches against Great Britain, two Test matches against the French and an additional two non-Test matches against an Italian representative team. It followed the tour of 1956-57 and the next was staged in 1963-64.
