Leigh v Touring Australian Teams

I thought for today's blog I'd give a bit of a history lesson behind Leigh taking on touring Australian teams.

Leigh first came into contact with the Aussies in 1908 in the 7th game of their mammoth 45 match tour. Previously unbeaten, the Australians record came to an end at Mather Lane. An 8000 strong crowd was on hand to see tries from Sam Johnson, Herbert Bennett, Robert Neville and William Smith as Leigh recorded a 14-11 vicory.

Three years later the touring team made a triumphant return to Mather Lane, holding on for a narrow 13-12 victory. Starring for Leigh that day was Tommy Johnson, who grabbed two tries while Lancashire representative Bert Ganley added three goals.

It was 1921 before Leigh welcomed the Aussies to Mather Lane once more. The onset of the first world war meant that competitive sport was put on hold and rugby league was no exception.

On their next three visits, Australia were given a fright by a Leigh team that was generally unspectacular in the league, winning 19-16 (in 1929), 16-7 (in 1933) and 11-9 (in 1937).

The performance in 1933 was particularly heroic as at that time the club was going through financial crisis.

It was to be another 11 years before Leigh hosted the Aussies. Current club secretary and time-keeper Tommy Sale played in that game an added a try before a Kirkhall Lane crowd of 13,000.

Finally, 51 years after that first victory over Australia, Leigh pulled off a shock 18-17 victory. Cumbrian forward Derek Hurt was the hero with a try and two goals. Regular kicker Brian Fallon also added four goals to seal the Aussies fate.

Australias next two visits in 1963 and 1973 were highly profitable with victory margins of 26 and 27 points respectively, but this was nothing compared to the free-flowing rugby served up by the 1982 "Invincibles".

The following game report of that encounter is taken from the Rothman's Rugby League Yearbook:

"Slalom Lager Champions Leigh looked anything but title holders as the Austraian magicians produced a night of hat-tricks. Wingmen Anderson and Ribot, plus rampaging second row man McCabe, all touched down three times in a 12-try riot. Centre Meninga got in on the act with three goals, although fortunately for Leigh, the hat-trick of successful shots came from eleven attempts, Lewis hitting one from two kicks.

Australian prop Morris and Leigh substitute forward Hunter were given their marching orders in the 65th minute after the visitors had followed their now traditional pattern of sizing up the opposition in the first half before unleashing their vast resources of skill and speed. Leigh's only points - two Woods penalties - came before the break when the champions trailed only 11-4."

The teams for that encounter were:

Australia: Steve Ella, Chris Anderson, Mal Meninga, Gene Miles, John Ribot, Wally Lewis, Steve Mortimer, Don McKinnon, Ray Brown, Rod Morris, Paul McCabe, John Muggleton, Ian Schubert.
Subs used: None.

Leigh: Mick Hogan, Des Drummond, John Henderson, Steve Donlan, Graham Worgan, John Woods, Ken Green, Alf Wilkinson, Ray Tabern, Derek Pyke, Eric Chisnall, Geoff Clarkson, Ian Potter.
Subs used: Steve Tomlinson, Eddie Hunter.

Australia: 44
T: McCabe 3, Ribot 3, Anderson 3, Muggleton 2, Lewis.
G: Meninga 3, Lewis 1.

Leigh: 4
T: -
G: Woods 2.

In total Leigh's record against the Australians has been as follows:

Played 12 Won 2 Drawn 0 Lost: 10 F: 112 A:270