| 1963–64 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Jack Lynch Arthur Sparkes | ||||
| Coach(es) | Arthur Summons | ||||
| Tour captain(s) | Arthur Summons Ian Walsh | ||||
| Top point scorer(s) | Graeme Langlands 207 | ||||
| Top try scorer(s) | Ken Irvine 29 | ||||
| Top test point scorer(s) | Graeme Langlands 49 | ||||
| Top test try scorer(s) | Ken Irvine 8 | ||||
| Summary |
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| Total |
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| Test match |
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| Opponent |
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 Great Britain |
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 France |
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| Tour chronology | |||||
| Previous tour | 1959-60 by 1961 by to 1961 by | ||||
| Next tour | 1965 by to 1965 by 1967-68 by | ||||
The1963-64 Kangaroo tour was the eleventhKangaroo tour, during which theAustralian national rugby league team traveled to Europe and played thirty-six matches against British and French club and representative teams. It included threeTest matches againstGreat Britain for The Ashes, and three Tests against theFrench. The tour followed the1959-60 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France and was followed by the1967-68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France.
The Australian team was captain-coached byWestern Suburbs MagpiesHalfbackArthur Summons, though due to injury to Summons the test captaincy fell toSt GeorgeHookerIan Walsh forAshes series against Great Britain and the first test against France.
In the five matches in which neither Summons nor Walsh played, the Kangaroos were captained byBarry Muir (againstFeatherstone),Ken Irvine (Rochdale),Noel Kelly (Cumberland),Reg Gasnier (Pyrenees) andBrian Hambly (Les Espoirs (French Colts)).
The team was managed byJack Lynch and Arthur Sparkes.[1]
TheRugby League News published details of the touring team including each player's ages, weight, height and occupation.[2]
Match details - listing surnames of both teams and the point scorers - were included inE.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook, as was a summary of the players' point-scoring.[3]
John Cleary, Ken Day, Peter Gallagher, John Gleeson and Barry Muir were selected from Queensland clubs. Earl Harrison, Paul Quinn and Barry Rushworth were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1963 season.
The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 65,286 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 50-12 second test win over Great Britain atStation Road inSwinton with 30,843 in attendance. The largest non-test attendance of the tour was 21,284 when the Kangaroos defeatedSt. Helens atKnowsley Road.
The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.
| London | Swinton | Leeds |
|---|---|---|
| Wembley Stadium | Station Road | Headingley |
| Capacity:100,000 | Capacity:40,000 | Capacity:35,000 |
 |  | _001.JPG) |
| Saturday, 14 September | Warrington | 20 – 28 | Australia | Wilderspool,Warrington | |
| [[1] Report] | Attendance: 20,090 |
| Monday, 16 September | Huddersfield | 5 – 6 | Australia | Fartown,Huddersfield | |
| [[2] Report] | Attendance: 13,398 |
| Wednesday, 18 September | Yorkshire | 11 – 5 | Australia | Craven Park,Hull | |
| [[3] Report] | Attendance: 10,324 Referee: Denis Davies |
| Saturday, 21 September | Leeds | 10 – 13 | Australia | Headingley,Leeds | |
| [[4] Report] | Attendance: 16,641 |
| Wednesday, 25 September | Lancashire | 13 – 11 | Australia | Central Park,Wigan | |
| [[5] Report] | Attendance: 15,068 Referee: M. Coats |
| Saturday, 28 September | St. Helens | 2 – 8 | Australia | Knowsley Road,St. Helens | |
| [[6] Report] | Attendance: 21,284 |
| Wednesday, 2 October | Featherstone Rovers | 23 – 17 | Australia | Post Office Road,Featherstone | |
| [[7] Report] | Attendance: 7,898 |
| Saturday, 5 October | Oldham | 4 – 12 | Australia | Watersheddings,Oldham | |
| [[8] Report] | Attendance: 11,338 |
| Wednesday, 9 October | Leigh | 7 – 33 | Australia | Hilton Park,Leigh | |
| [[9] Report] | Attendance: 9,625 |
| Saturday, 12 October | Hull F.C. /Hull Kingston Rovers XIII | 10 – 23 | Australia | The Boulevard,Hull | |
| [[10] Report] | Attendance: 10,481 |
The firstAshes series test was played at the famousWembley Stadium inLondon. Reg Gasnier ran in 3 of the Kangaroos 6 tries while his St George team mate and centre partner Graeme Langlands kicked 5 goals and crossed for his own try. In front of a small crowd of only 13,946 (in a stadium which at the time could hold up to 100,000 and earlier in the year had seen a crowd of 84,488 for theChallenge Cup Final), the Kangaroos kept the Lions scoreless with Neil Fox's lone goal the only score for the home side as Australia won 28-2.
Wednesday, 16 October |
| Great Britain | 2 – 28 |  Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Goals: Neil Fox (1) | [11] | Tries: Reg Gasnier (3) Ken Irvine Graeme Langlands Ken Thornett Goals: Graeme Langlands (5) |
| Saturday, 19 October | Rochdale Hornets | 0 – 3 | Australia | Athletic Grounds,Rochdale | |
| [[12] Report] | Attendance: 8,637 |
| Wednesday, 23 October | Hunslet | 13 – 17 | Australia | Parkside,Hunslet | |
| [[13] Report] | Attendance: 4,400 |
| Saturday, 26 October | Wakefield Trinity | 14 – 29 | Australia | Belle Vue,Wakefield | |
| [[14] Report] | Attendance: 15,821 |
| Thursday, 31 October | Cumberland | 0 – 21 | Australia | Derwent Park,Workington | |
| [[15] Report] | Attendance: 8,229 Referee: A. Durkin |
| Saturday, 2 November | Barrow | 5 – 18 | Australia | Craven Park,Barrow | |
| [[16] Report] | Attendance: 10,130 |
The second test atStation Road inSwinton has gone down in rugby league folklore as the "Swinton Massacre". The Kangaroos ran riot, crossing for 12 tries to just 2 from the Lions. The 50-12 win was not only the Kangaroos highest ever score against Great Britain, it also saw Australia win The Ashes in England for the first time since1911–12 and the first time an all-Australian team (the 1911–12 squad included New Zealand players) had won The Ashes in England. British fans got a taste of Ken Irvine's legendary speed when he crossed for three long range tries while Reg Gasnier, Peter Dimond and Graeme Langlands all crossed for doubles with Langlands also kicking 7 goals for a personal tally of 20 points. Though on this day there was none better than Kangaroos lock forward Johnny Raper who while not scoring himself, had a hand in 9 of his teams 12 tries.[4]
Saturday, 9 November |
| Great Britain | 12 – 50 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: John Stopford Jim Measures Goals: Neil Fox (3) | [17] | Tries: Ken Irvine (3) Reg Gasnier (2) Peter Dimond (2) Graeme Langlands (2) Earl Harrison Noel Kelly Dick Thornett Goals: Graeme Langlands (7) |
| Wednesday, 13 November | Castleford | 13 – 12 | Australia | Wheldon Road,Castleford | |
| [[18] Report] | Attendance: 7,887 |
| Monday, 18 November | Wigan | 10 – 18 | Australia | Central Park,Wigan | |
| [[19] Report] | Attendance: 11,746 |
| Thursday, 21 November | Widnes | 9 – 20 | Australia | Naughton Park,Widnes | |
| [[20] Report] | Attendance: 6,509 |
| Saturday, 23 November | Swinton | 2 – 2 | Australia | Station Road,Swinton | |
| [[21] Report] | Attendance: 11,947 |
With pride on the line as noEngland or Great Britain team had ever lost a home series 3-0 to Australia, The Lions put in a much improved performance atHeadingley inLeeds. TheRugby Football League had appointed "Sergeant Major"Eric Clay as the referee for the game. The two sides set about settling scores and the Australians felt Clay was biased. It is considered was one of the most brutal Tests ever played, with two Australians (Barry Muir and Brian Hambly) and one British player (Cliff Watson) being sent off. Muir who was sent off (for kicking) later told that he first told Clay "where to go" as he left the field, and later approached Clay after the game and said to him "You robbed us". According to Muir, Clay reportedly responded with "Barry, I've got to live here".[5]
Ken Irvine, who scored Australia's only try for the match, repeated his efforts from the 1962 Ashes series by scoring a try in each test of an Ashes series.
Saturday, 30 November |
| Great Britain | 16 – 5 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Johnny Ward John Stopford Geoff Smith Don Fox Goals: Don Fox (2) | [22] | Tries: Ken Irvine Goals: Graeme Langlands (1) |
| Great Britain | Position | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| FB | ||
| 2.Geoff Smith | WG | 3.Ken Irvine |
| 3.Keith Holden | CE | 7.Reg Gasnier |
| 4.Alan Buckley | CE | 4.Graeme Langlands |
| 5.John Stopford | WG | 5.Peter Dimond |
| 6.Dave Bolton | SO | 11.Earl Harrison |
| 7.Tommy Smales (c) | SH | 14.Barry Muir |
| 8.Frank Collier | PR | 26.Noel Kelly |
| 9.Johnny Ward | HK | 25.Ian Walsh (c) |
| 10.Cliff Watson | PR | 21.Paul Quinn |
| 11.Dick Huddart | SR | 20.Brian Hambly |
| 12.Ken Roberts | SR | 18.Dick Thornett |
| 13.Don Fox | LF | 15.Johnny Raper |
| Coach | Arthur Summons |
TheRugby League News published a list of match results in a February 1964 special issue.[6]
| Date | Opponent | Score | Ground | Referee | Crowd | Report |
| 5 December 1963 | Celtic de Paris | 2 – 30 | Stade Pershing,Paris | 200 | ||
| 8 December 1963 | France | 8 – 5 | Stade Chaban-Delmas,Bordeaux | A. Cassan (FRA) | 4,261 | [7] |
| 12 December 1963 | Basque / Bearnaise XIII | 5 – 18 | 4,261 | |||
| 15 December 1963 | South West France | 11 – 41 | Stade Jules Ribet,Saint-Gaudens | 1,266 | ||
| 19 December 1963 | Pyrenees | 10 – 14 | Stade Jules Ribet,Saint-Gaudens | 2,059 | ||
| 22 December 1963 | France | 10 – 14 | Stade des Minimes,Toulouse | E. Martung (FRA) | 6,932 | [8] |
| 25 December 1963 | Rouergue XIII | 2 – 13 | Stade Municipal d'Albi,Albi | 3,780 | ||
| 29 December 1963 | Languedoc XIII | 12 – 16 | Stade Albert Domec,Carcassonne | 6,143 | ||
| 4 January 1963 | XIII Catalan | 15 – 11 | Stade Jean-Laffon,Perpignan | 4,524 | ||
| 4 January 1964 | South France | 11 – 51 | 889 | |||
| 5 January 1964 | Provence XIII | 4 – 35 | Parc des Sports,Avignon | 2,009 | ||
| 12 January 1964 | Roanne XIII | 2 – 38 | 2,969 | |||
| 16 January 1964 | Les Espoirs (Colts) | 12 – 19 | 2,617 | |||
| 18 January 1964 | France | 8 – 16 | Parc des Princes,Paris | G. Jameau (FRA) | 5,979 | [9] |
AlthoughKen Irvine was unavailable due to injury, The Kangaroos lost nothing with pace on the wing due to the selection ofSouth Sydney flyer and dual-rugby internationalMichael Cleary who 12 months earlier had won the Bronze Medal in the 100 yards sprint at the1962 Commonwealth Games. However it wasn't enough as the tourists were defeated 8-5 by a determined French.
8 December 1963 |
| France | 8 – 5 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Georges Ailleres Bernard Fabre Goals Jean Villeneuve (1) | Tries: Graeme Langlands Goals Graeme Langlands (1) |
22 December 1963 |
| France | 9 – 21 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Jean Etcheberry Goals Jean Villeneuve (2) Andre Lacaze (1) | Tries: Ken Irvine (2) Graeme Langlands Arthur Summons Ken Thornett Goals Graeme Langlands (3) |
18 January 1964 |
| France | 8 – 16 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Tries: Laurent Roldos Louis Vergé Goals Jean Villeneuve (1) | Tries: Barry Muir (2) Ken Irvine Barry Rushworth Goals Brian Hambly (1) |
Rugby league Ashes / | |
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| Teams |
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| Men's series | |
| Women's series | |
| Wheelchair series | |
